Antoine Griezmann has signed a contract extension at Atletico Madrid and apologised to their fans for the speculation over his future.
The France star had been heavily linked with Manchester United until the deal fell through, with United claiming they had changed priorities, while other reports suggested Griezmann felt unable to desert Atletico while they are serving a transfer ban and unable to replace him.
Griezmann has now signed a one-year extension to his contract which now runs until 2022, though his buy-out clause remains at 100m euros (£87million).
Upon announcing the new agreement, Griezmann said: “The first thing that I want to do is apologise to the people who misunderstood my statements.
“Maybe I expressed myself badly or someone wanted to make news where there wasn’t any, but since I came, I have given my all for my club, my teammates and my coaching staff, and I’m very happy to live one more season with all of you.”
Atletico director of football Jose Luis Perez Caminero greeted the news by outlining why he believes Griezmann is different from other world-class stars.
“It’s great news because he is one of the best players in the world and all of us Atleticos should congratulate ourselves for counting with him. Antoine is a different football player, capable of changing a match, with spectacular qualities, a very complete player.
“He is also a football player willing to sacrifice himself for the team when it’s needed and works on defensive tasks too, something that makes him different from the rest of the world’s greatest players.”
