Atletico Madrid star makes key decision over his future

Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has ended the ongoing speculation over his future by confirming his intention to stay with the Madrid giants. The France international had been earmarked as the prime attacking target for Barcelona for the transfer window but he has now decided to stay put in the Spanish capital.
Griezmann had remained mum over his club future over the past few weeks but on Wednesday, the Frenchman confirmed that he would be releasing a video following the World Cup opener which would clarify his future. As expected, there were no surprises in store and much to the frustration of the neutrals, the 27-year-old confirmed that he would be remaining at Atleti for the 2018/19 campaign.

The Frenchman’s decision is expected to come as a huge positive for the club’s faithful, who were concerned that they could lose one of their prized assets in the transfer window. Meanwhile, the Capital outfit have already shown their ambition in the transfer market after reaching a preliminary agreement for Monaco’s Thomas Lemar and the arrival of the Frenchman could transform Atleti into genuine title-challengers next season.
Under Diego Simeone, the Madrid giants have tended to possess one of the best defensive records across Europe’s top-five leagues but their concerns have lied on the offensive side of their game, where they have not been able to match the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Both the Blaugrana and Los Blancos have averaged at least two goals per game over the past few seasons and this is something which Atleti have not come close to, though the arrival of Lemar may form a splendid attacking trident alongside Griezmann and Diego Costa. Atleti ended the previous season on a high by lifting the Europa League title ahead of Marseille and they now have an European Super Cup final scheduled against Real Madrid on August 15.