Chelsea will rival any attempt by Manchester United to prise Antoine Griezmann out of Atletico Madrid in future transfer windows after watching him for the last two years.
United are monitoring Griezmann’s situation at Atletico, with Spanish reports claiming manager Diego Simeone could seek a new challenge at the end of the season.
That would put a huge question mark against the future of Griezmann, who has suggested that he will look to leave Atletico if Simeone goes.
United, though, will face strong competition for Griezmann, not least from Chelsea who are big admirers of the striker and could be prepared to break the bank to get him.
Chelsea have been watching the progress of Griezmann ever since he joined Atletico from Real Sociedad in 2014 with the view of one day making a move.
Griezmann has a 100million Euro release clause in the latest Atletico contract he signed in June, which currently converts to £84m. That would comfortably break Chelsea’s transfer record, but may seem relatively good value for money with the way fees are heading by next summer.
Chelsea made offers for Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku this summer, but were not able to tempt either Real Madrid or Everton into selling.
Rather going for a back-up option, Chelsea shelved their striker search which means there is still space in the squad and the budget to resume the hunt when they feel the time is right.
Diego Costa could also give Chelsea a big advantage over United if both clubs do decide to launch bids for Griezmann.
The Spanish club pushed hard to try to re-sign the 27-year-old this year, but Chelsea would not sell. Costa himself has admitted he would have liked to have gone back to Atletico, but, while he is happy to stay for this season, the prospect of a return is likely to be raised again next year.
Despite fighting to keep him this summer, Chelsea may well be prepared to let Costa re-sign for Atletico if it meant landing Griezmann, who finished Euro 2016 as top scorer with six goals.
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