A brief roundup of all the major transfer rumors sweeping their way across Europe and around the world, including the Premier League…
[ MORE: Friday’s transfer rumor roundup | Thursday | Wednesday ]
Perhaps Antoine Griezmann overplayed his hand six weeks ago when he took the curious step of announcing to the world that he would be leaving Atletico Madrid this summer. His next club was expected to be revealed in pretty short order, but still we wait. Not only has no transfer been announced, but the rumors that once linked Griezmann with a move to Barcelona have gone totally quiet.
So, here’s one of the best attackers in the world, stuck in no man’s land essentially without a club for the upcoming season. It’s a terrible predicament for the player to be in, but also the club whose prized asset appears to be depreciating in value — with no leverage whatsoever, don’t forget — by the day.
According to a report from French newspaper L’Equipe, Atleti are growing so desperate that they recently held preliminary talks over doing the unthinkable: selling Griezmann to Real Madrid. Additional talks are expected to be held in the not-so-distant future.
If the 28-year-old remains an Atleti player beyond this coming week, his release clause will increase by more than $90 million, from $136 million to $227 million.
Bayern Munich’s pursuit of Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi shows no signs of slowing up, despite the 18-year-old attacker suffering a ruptured achilles in April.
Having already had a bid — or bids — rejected by the Blues, Bayern made another offer for Hudson-Odoi. That bid, believed to have been just over $32 million, was also rejected, according to a report from the Guardian.
Bayern’s previous bids were all reportedly north of $40 million, but they see an opportunity to sign one of the world’s brightest attacking prospects for a cut-rate fee as he has just 12 months remaining on his current contract.
Hudson-Odoi is reportedly targeting a return to the field in September, at which point he will very quickly be asked to take on a significant load of minutes for the Blues who won’t be making any signings this season due to their two-window transfer ban.
