In order to overcome the disappointment of losing a number of key players in the last few weeks of the transfer window, Atletico Madrid have been on a spending spree of late. They recently brought in Croatian international Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich for a transfer fee believed to be in excess of £ 20 million. This was followed by the signing of a goalkeeper in order to replace Thibaut Courtois. Rather than sign a bargain name, Atletico went on and brought in Benfica goalkeeper Jan Oblak for a fee believed to be close to £ 15 million.
The 21-year-old could prove to be a great signing if he manages to realise his potential. These additions have been followed by the signing of World Cup star Antoine Griezmann from Real Sociedad for around € 25 million. After impressing with the French national team at the World Cup 2014, there was enormous interest surrounding Griezmann. The likes of Arsenal were rumoured to be interested in the 23-year-old, who clearly has a lot of potential. However, the prospect of playing for the current la Liga champions proved irresistible.
After completing the move, Griezmann claimed that Atletico have the capability to win all the major trophy since the coming campaign. Last season, they came close to winning a famous double despite having one of the smallest squads in the division.
“I am an ambitious player and the team will be battling to win every competition it is involved in. But as the coach says, we’ll take it one game at a time, and that means a lot of hard work and effort. I needed to take a leap in my career, to learn new things and I knew that the place to do that is here at Atletico. I hope to learn a lot from the technical team and also from my new team-mates. Atletico stated an interest quite some time ago, and when they called, they made their intentions very clear,” said Griezmann.