Manchester United closing in on marquee summer signing

People close to Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann now believe a summer switch to Manchester United is a formality, reports Manchester Evening News.

United manager Jose Mourinho has been chasing Griezmann’s signature all season after earmarking the France international as his top transfer target and the club now appear to have made a significant breakthrough in their pursuit.

Atletico manager Diego Simeone has all but conceded the club would be powerless in stopping Griezmann from making the summer switch to Old Trafford due to the player’s €100m release clause.

Having only signed Paul Pogba for a world record fee last summer, United would have no problem triggering Griezmann’s release clause and the fact both are close friends is reportedly going in United’s favour as well.

Griezmann is arguably playing some of the best football of his career at the moment having struggled to rediscover his form from Euro 2016 at the start of the current campaign. In fact, since the turn of the year the Atletico No.7 has played a direct hand in 14 goals in 19 appearances in all competitions, having only scored or assisted 15 goals in 21 matches prior to that this season.

For more stats on Antoine Griezmann, click here to visit his WhoScored player page