Antoine Griezmann has previously stated his interest to play in Major League Soccer at some point in his career and the Frenchman recommitted his plans for the future on Wednesday.
Griezmann, who recently kicked off his latest La Liga campaign with Atletico Madrid last week, spoke to reporters on Wednesday about his desire to play in MLS. The 32-year-old enjoyed a positive 2022-23 campaign under Diego Simeone scoring 15 goals and providing a league-high 16 assists.
Although his current plans remain focused around Atletico Madrid, Griezmann hinted about reuniting with new Inter Miami star Lionel Messi in Fort Lauderdale.
“Yes, I’m following [Messi],” Griezmann said in a La Liga press conference Wednesday. “Leo is the best in history. He’s filling stadiums, he’s scoring a lot of goals and he’s winning games.
“He’s incredible and I think it’s the best thing MLS have done to bring in Leo, in terms of marketing and in terms of football.”
A former Real Sociedad youth player, Griezmann has been one of the prominent faces in Europe over the past decade, starring for Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona during his career. He’s also registered over 120 caps for his native France, winning the 2019 FIFA World Cup with Les Bleus and remaining a veteran leader in the squad under Didier Deschamps.
Griezmann would become the latest European star to take his talents to MLS, following in the footsteps of Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lorenzo Insigne, and David Beckham before him. His current contract with Atletico is set to run until June 2026 and for now he is focused on trying to win trophies there before making the move to North America.
“I’ve always said it,” Griezmann said about his interest in MLS. “My target is to end up there, with everything that I like about American sports, playing in MLS and enjoying myself, being able to win things and be at my best level.
“First I want to make history here and win trophies at Atleti. After that we’ll see… I think the arrival of Leo [Messi], ‘Busi’ [Sergio Busquets] and Jordi [Alba] is good for the league. That and signing younger players, especially from South America, it’s the best thing the league can do.”
Atletico Madrid finished third in La Liga last season and next travels to Real Betis on Sunday.
Looks like it is not happening!
The interview I saw wasn’t exactly him clamoring to come to MLS immediately. He spoke in a very general sense about it maybe being nice to go to MLS some day.
Griezman is a great player but he’s not going to move the needle like Messi, Beckham, Zlatan, or any of the big Mexican players who have come here. No one is going to go to a game just to watch him play.
Probably looking for a move to MLS in 2026 after the WC.
as someone who watched atleti some in recent years, griezemann is not considering all the club went through to wait out his loan (with limits on how much he could play) and get him transferred last year, which began almost as a favor to broke Barca. he has a deal through 26 as a result. i think they would be reticent to let him go and would expect a hefty fee if they did. when HH came to houston on a pre-signing last year my sense is that even though the season was long over they made him serve out every second he owed on his atleti deal through like july 1.