Antoine Griezmann reveals why he snubbed Barcelona

In an interview with French television, Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has revealed why he turned down an offer from Barcelona earlier in his career.

The January player of the month in La Liga told RTL that the Catalan club initially approached him when the France international first broke into the squad at Real Sociedad in 2009 (while the Basque club were playing in the Segunda Division).

Griezmann said Barcelona’s offer was for him to start playing for Barca B (their reserve team) and then be promoted to the first team after one season. But since there was no guarantees of his promotion, the forward decided to remain with La Real.

Arsenal and Manchester United were also reportedly interested in signing the talented, young forward away from the Basque club. But the Frenchman declined their offers as well.

La Real ultimately benefited from the player’s decision to remain at the Anoeta stadium when Griezmann’s goal against Deportivo La Coruna on the final day of the 2012-13 campaign secured Real Sociedad’s Champions League qualification for the following season.

“You would have to ask them [Barcelona],” Griezmann told RTL when asked about the Catalan club’s interest in him. “I wanted to play in the first team. I don’t know if they really wanted me [that much].

“When they got in touch with me, they spoke with my agents, but nothing happened. I was already playing la Segunda with La Real. I didn’t want to go to another team [Barca B] in the same division.”

After five outstanding seasons with La Real, Griezmann joined Atletico Madrid in July 2014 for a reported fee of 24 million.

Once again, the France international was approached by a host of European suitors – including Barcelona – but the forward elected to join Diego Simeone and be a part of the manager’s renaissance in the Spanish capital.

After early struggles which saw him in and out of Simeone’s starting eleven, the forward has settled into a first team role and has become the catalyst to Los Colchoneros attack. With just over a half of a season under his belt in Madrid, Griezmann has already been named La Liga’s player of the month, while helping Atletico win the Spanish Super Cup.

His side currently sits in third place in the Primera Division, four points behind league-leaders Real Madrid. Their next match will be on Sunday, February 15th when they travel to Celta Vigo.