Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann will be allowed to leave the club if the right offer comes along, head coach Diego Simeone said on Thursday.
The 26-year-old Frenchman has been the subject of interest of several clubs in Europe, including Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain. Simeone said he would stop any of his players from leaving if they wanted to develop their careers elsewhere.
“Of course he can leave at some point, like Diego Costa and Arda Turan did in their day,” Simeone told French newspaper L’Equipe, as reported by The Guardian.
“I love watching my players grow, and if one of them tells me that they have the unique opportunity of playing for a certain team, after they did everything they could for me, like Griezmann has done, I’ll say it’s not a problem. I know that he needs to grow,” Simeone added.
Atletico are currently serving a transfer ban as a punishment for irregularities in the signing of foreign players under 18. The ban will end in January. There were several reports during the summer transfer window stating that Griezmann is on the verge of signing for United but the Frenchman eventually came out and said it would be a “dirty move” to leave the club in the midst of a ban.
The Frenchman won the Golden Boot at Euro 2016 and his contract at Atletico runs until 2022. The contract also has a release clause of around €100 million, according to The Guardian.
United manager Jose Mourinho refused to speak about a potential move for Griezmann in January. “I don’t speak about players, I’m sorry, especially players who belong to other clubs,” he said, at a press conference ahead of United’s Premier League match against West Bromwich Albion.
Mourinho did, however, say that while he wasn’t a big fan of the January transfer window, he would not turn down an opportunity to sign a player he wanted if it came along.
“I’m not a big defender of the January market but there are players and situations that sometimes you have the chance to do and you should not lose that chance,” he said. “If you can buy in January a player you would buy in June-July, then great.”