As news emerged on Monday evening that Antoine Griezmann had put pen to paper on a new contract at Atletico Madrid, many Man Utd fans were gutted as they expected it to tie him to the club until 2022, or at the very least raise his buyout clause past €100m.
But that is not the case. Yes, he did sign a contract extension, as was confirmed by Marca...
Antoine Griezmann has stamped his signature on the a contract that ties him to Atletico until 2022, making it clear that his future is to continue wearing the rojiblanca under the orders of Simeone.
But that's not exactly what the new deal means.
As revealed by Spanish journalist Antonio Ruiz, there has been no change to the release clause, the only difference is that Griezmann's wages have been raised as a reward for his loyalty. He also added that he has been told that the club still expect to sell him within the next year.
Sigue el plan: Griezmann amplia 1 año más en @Atleti más sueldo, no sube la cláusula y el año que viene se facilita su salida. @tjcope ...
— Antonio Ruiz (@RuizAntonito) June 12, 2017
That means that Manchester United will still be the favourites to lure Griezmann away as soon as it's a viable option, which at this moment in time looks like next summer as he is unlikely to leave in the middle of the season with Simeone's men competing for trophies and the player himself surely being cup-tied in the Champions League.
It won't happen this summer, which we knew already, but Griezmann's new contract does not mean that he won't be leaving, it just means that the club wishes to thank him for not leaving during a transfer ban.
Of course, there's still a lot of time for Man Utd to mess it up, but those who were worried that today's news would kill the deal can rest easy.
