It's official, Barça completes the signing of Antoine Griezmann. After several days of Josep Bartomeu trying to negotiate a fee with Atletico Madrid had gone south, finally the Catalan club have paid the €120m buyout clause to release the French World Cup winner from Atletico Madrid.
Now, the Griezmann signing has been completed after so many months of uncertainty around the 28-year-old French. An acquisition by FC Barcelona that further makes for a jaw-dropping attacking depth in their ranks. Now there's Messi, Suarez, Dembele, Coutinho and then Griezmann. A formidable attack so it seems. Perhaps one of the best if not the best group of striking force you would find anywhere in the world.
Judging from each players individual qualities, goal-scoring would be the least of problems that would be of immediate concern. But a quick reminder, just last season, following the Anfield debacle and capitulation, questions were asked about the ineptitude of the attacking line of Barça to register just a single goal that would have eventually ended the tie. Despite the fact that Barça were without the services of Dembele due to injury, none of Messi, Suarez and Coutinho managed to find the back of the net. Would the story have been any different had Dembele featured ? Maybe yes, maybe not.
The Griezmann signing gives a clear indication that the Barça attack still needs improving. Yes, Coutinho hasn't lived up to the billing and his form last season was nothing to write home about drawing lots of criticisms from Cules. Also, Dembele has had to battle with injuries every now and then painfully restricting his momentum, consistency and confidence. But in view of this, would the arrival of Antoine Griezmann solve Barca's moment of collapse in decisive CL games that renders their attacking front toothless and out of sort as happened in Rome and Anfield ? Clearly, the French forward was acquired not to win yet another LaLiga title or regain success in Copa Del Rey, but to help bring back the ever eluding Champions League trophy back to Nou Camp since 2015.
And with Lionel Messi in his early 30's and in the latter part of his career a little help would do. The former Real Sociedad man lifting some amount of workload off Messi's shoulders.
In another perspective, the two most painful exits suffered by Barça in their CL history has come under the tutelage of Ernesto Valverde. The Barça coach seems to have parted ways with the tiki-taka and possession based style associated with the Catalan club and introduced a now "conservative approach style" that has evidently garnered back-to-back La Liga titles but failing to yield the same output in the Championship League. With all these said, it makes one wonder if just an addition of one more attacking delight could be the solution or that a new manager with a more daring approach who can revive the Barça way of play could actually do the trick.
De Jong was announced earlier in the week, now Antoine Griezmann follows. Maybe in the coming days Neymar might as well join, but whether the arrival of Griezmann and other key signings can ultimately end Barca's five-year wait for the Champions League trophy remains to be seen.
For Cules, it's fingers crossed.
Credited to Bright N. B. Antwi
