The Weekly Take, Issue 71: Absolutely Pathetic

I’m not holding back at all this week.

The player I’m writing about has forever sullied his legacy by making the weakest transfer move I have ever witnessed.

This player is a perennial Ballon d’Or contender, the MVP and top scorer of Euro 2016, a World Cup champion who was third in the tournament’s MVP rankings, arguably the world’s best player at his position, and had been the best player on one of the best club teams on the planet.

So what does he do?

Of course, he chooses to run away from the challenges he is faced with and join forces with an immediate rival, both domestically and in the Champions League.

As great of a player as he is, I am so appalled by this transfer that after I mention his name for the first time, I will not do so for the rest of the post. I will channel my inner Skip Bayless and refer to him by his jersey number.

You might already have guessed that I’m referring to Antoine Griezmann, who has just left Atlético Madrid for Barcelona. It cost Barça €120 million, the fifth-highest transfer fee of all time, to land #17.

However, that’s irrelevant. #17 forced his way out of the Wanda Metropolitano, making a transfer request after spending five years at the Madrid club.

Despite clearly having the game and the squad around him to be able to lead Atlético to the top, the man from Bourgogne chose to take the easy way out, joining forces with a direct rival and teaming up with Leo Messi and company.

Here are the reasons as to why I consider #17’s move to Catalonia to be truly pathetic.

1) He was already on a genuine Champions League contender.

Over the five seasons that #17 was at Atlético, the club was never ranked lower than sixth in pre-tournament club coefficient. What’s more, they were ranked second before last season’s campaign, while Barça had been ranked fourth. They also generally lived up to expectations, reaching the quarterfinals in 2015, final in 2016, and semifinals in 2017. Since Atlético were already among the title contenders with #17 on their roster, it’s obvious that he chose the easy way out.

2) His motives were different.

Consider the other major transfers of the current off-season.

João Felix, Frenkie de Jong, Lucas Hernandez, and Luka Jović are all young players trying to break out as superstars at a major club.

Eden Hazard wanted to escape the toxic, dysfunctional, untenable atmosphere at Chelsea.

#17 is in the prime of his career at 28 and had been playing for perhaps the best-run club in the world. He simply wanted to ride Messi’s coattails to an easy Champions League title.

3) He signed for a team which has recently bested his own team often.

Over the five years during which #17 was at Atlético, they twice finished second behind Barça in La Liga. In fact, during this time, Atlético never finished ahead of the Catalan club in the league. They were also knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Barça twice.

Thus, it’s a really bad look for him to sign for Barça.

4) There were no other reasons for him to leave.

Star player for a superbly-run Champions League contender? Check.

Lucrative endorsement deals? Check.

Enormous salary? Check.

Big-market team in a place with a favourable lifestyle? Check.

He was in what was close to an ideal situation – and left anyway.

The only other transfer I can think of that exhibited this level of mental weakness was Luís Figo’s departure from Barça to then-reigning Champions League champions Real Madrid, a transfer which marked the beginning of Real’s iconic “Galácticos” era.

For what it’s worth, I cannot wait for Barça’s next away match against Atlético.

Certainly, every time #17 touches the ball, the Atlético fans will unleash every last bit of their pent-up rage and frustration on their former ace who turned his back on them. They will surely greet him with a fusillade of richly-deserved boos, jeers, and heckles.

Regardless of the outcome of that match, it will definitely be something extraordinary to witness, and an Atlético win would be especially sweet - #17 will have received his due comeuppance.

The Weekly Take, Issue 30: Snub of the Year

The FIFPro World XI, comprising the players deemed to have been the world’s best at their position over the last year, has been named. Some of the world’s biggest football stars, such as David de Gea, Raphaël Varane, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and newly-crowned FIFA player of the year Luka Modrić, were all named to the team, and deservedly so, for they have all truly excelled over the course of the year.

However, this year’s team contains one glaring omission.

This player was the star of a team that finished second in a major European league and also won the Europa League.

Despite not being a pure target man, he scored 29 goals in all competitions for his club, including 19 in the league.

He also played an extremely important role in his country’s World Cup run and was man of the match in the final. He also won the Bronze Ball at the tournament.

This player is Antoine Griezmann.

Those of you who have followed my column from its inception may remember that the first thing I ever wrote was about how underrated Griezmann’s club, Atlético Madrid, is. In that sense, it is somewhat apt that Griezmann was overlooked for a spot on the team of the year.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Griezmann deserves the honour.

The two wingers selected to the team were Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé.

Now, with Mbappé, it’s an interesting comparison. Both Griezmann and Mbappé were absolutely essential to France’s World Cup triumph. The duo combined for eight goals and two assists during the tournament. Mbappé also won the Best Young Player award.

At club level, it is also fairly close. While Mbappé’s PSG team did win a league and cup double, Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France are significantly less competitive than La Liga and the Copa del Rey. PSG also failed to make a deep Champions League run. However, while Atlético did win the Europa League, it’s not even close to the level of difficulty of the Champions League.

It is also close from a statistical standpoint, as Mbappé managed 21 goals from 44 appearances.

However, this number must be contextualised: as I said, Mbappé plays in a much less competitive league than Griezmann does. Although Mbappé has the higher ceiling, given the fact that he is still only 19 years old, it cannot be definitively said that he is a better player than Griezmann right now. Regardless, you could easily make a case for either being on the FIFPro team.

Now we come to Hazard.

As great a player as Eden Hazard is, he has absolutely no business being selected ahead of Griezmann.

Hazard’s Chelsea team were knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 and only finished fifth in the Premier League, missing out of Champions League qualification. Hazard’s form had also been fairly inconsistent during certain parts of the season.

At the World Cup, Griezmann’s France knocked out Hazard’s Belgium in the semifinals. The only area in which Hazard could conceivably be said to have been ahead of Griezmann was the fact that Hazard won the Silver Ball at the World Cup. However, as has been mentioned, Griezmann won the Bronze Ball, so this small advantage in favour of Hazard should not even have been close to enough to overhaul the advantage that Griezmann had already built up.

Honestly, the biggest reason why Griezmann was snubbed was because he plays for Atlético. Had he achieved what he did for a more well-known club, there is a significant chance that he would have made the team over Hazard, Mbappé, or perhaps even both.

Nevertheless, what Griezmann needs to do in the coming season is use this snub to fuel his inner fire and show the voters how wrong they were to exclude him.

We have already seen what he is capable of under normal circumstances, but an angry yet motivated Griezmann could really take his game to the next level.

Should Griezmann go on a successful “revenge tour”, he could end up being the catalyst for a campaign in which Atlético might even win La Liga or the Champions League, and though it may be unlikely, he could perhaps even lead them to a double.