The Spanish La Liga season isn’t even over yet but already Barcelona is looking ahead to next season, after a rather dismal 2020-2021. Joan Laporta will have a lot on his plate, most importantly keeping Lionel Messi.
Aside from “Operation keep Messi at Barcelona”, Laporta will also be making key decisions when it comes to the current squad and head coach Ronald Koeman, who is in the hot seat and according to various reports may not be back next season.
On the to-do list for Barcelona is the signing of a striker, and with the club in economic turmoil, spending may be out of the question, and player swapping might be the best card the club has at their disposal. Here is the Atlético Madrid striker Barcelona would like to sign on a player swap.
Barcelona wants to do a Antoine Griezmann-João Félix swap with Atlético Madrid
Antoine Griezmann and João Félix (Getty)
As far-fetched as it sounds according to TV3’s Onze television show, Barcelona have contacted the bosses at Atlético Madrid to discuss “trading” the French World Cup winner for the Portuguese prodigy.
On the program it was stated that Félix’s agent could push the move as each club paid similar amounts for both players at their respective times. Nonetheless the story of both players at the moment is vastly different.
Antoine Griezmann has not lived up to expectations at Barcelona, scoring only 21 goals in 70 games, a far cry from the productivity that Luis Suarez, Barcelona’s last key forward had. The program indicated that Barcelona is keen to offload the Frenchman and want to renegotiate his contract at a reduced salary.
At 21, João Félix is being brought along slowly at Atlético Madrid, considered one of the top prospects in the world, the Portuguese star has 13 goals in 56 games and has been electric for Atlético Madrid. If sold, Félix would have a much higher transfer fee attached to him in the market than Griezmann. Although the lure of playing with Messi might be a good enough reason for Félix to make the switch if his agent pushes hard for it.
Barcelona will have another difficult offseason, with Messi’s contract, the search for new talent, and a possible coaching change all on the table. For Atlético Madrid they might be entering next season as La Liga champions, something that might have enough weight to keep the squad together.
