Finally, after months of speculation, Antoine Griezmann has been officially unveiled as a Barcelona player. He would wear the No 17 shirt for his new club and former rivals. The France football star completed his move to Barcelona from Atletica Madrid on Friday for a fee of £108million.
Griezmann was in good spirits as he posed in the Barcelona kit for the first time and spoke of his desire to win the Champions League for the first time. Pedro, Mark van Bommel and Emmanuel Petit are amongst the players to have previously worn the No 17 for Barcelona, with Jeison Murillo, who was on loan from Valencia last season, the most recent player to have worn it.
As he addressed the media, Griezmann said: ‘I’m very excited to be here. I’m accepting a big challenge. I’m ready for what’s coming up.’ ‘It’s a new challenge. I always try to better myself and break out of my comfort zone. I want to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League – which is missing from my CV.’ The 28-year-old pointed to the Barcelona badge and showed off his skills as he was unveiled at the Nou Camp. Speaking about Lionel Messi, Griezmann said: ‘Messi is someone for every footballer to look up to. It’s a source of incredible happiness to be able to play alongside him.’
Griezmann has signed a five-year deal with Barcelona that includes a staggering buy-out clause of £717million. The deal led Atletico to threaten to take legal action against Barcelona and Griezmann as they claim that an agreement for the move was in place last season. After joining from Real Sociedad in 2014, Griezmann went on to score 133 goals in 257 games for Atletico. He won the Europa League with Atletico in the 2017-18 campaign.
