Jose Mourinho wants Antoine Griezmann to ‘save Manchester United’s season’ in January
Portuguese boss is ready to hand French forward £300,000-a-week to snub Barcelona move
JOSE MOURINHO wants Antoine Griezmann to save Manchester United's season in January, according to reports.
The Portuguese boss is ready to pay the French forward a massive £300,000-a-week to ward off Barcelona interest.
Griezmann was very close to joining Manchester United in the summer, but decided to sign a new deal at Atletico Madrid.
The 26-year-0ld said he would have felt 'dirty' leaving Atletico in the summer when they were under a transfer embargo and unable to sign a replacement.
He is now said to be ready to leave.
According to the Daily Star, Mourinho still wants the forward at Old Trafford and wants to strike before Barcelona do.
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It has appeared in recent weeks as if Griezmann would move to the Nou Camp, with the club looking at him as a replacement for Neymar.
But Mourinho knows he can trigger Griezmann's £100million release cause - and hopes he can entice him to Old Trafford with the massive wage offer.
United are all but out of the title race, sitting 15 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.
To make matters much worse, Mourinho's team are now winless in FOUR.
And there are fears the club could finish out of the top four, with - especially with strikers Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic missing for the considerable future.
The club are usually reluctant to spend in January, but know that Griezmann is a long-term investment.
The forward has seven goals and five assists for Atletico this season.
Speaking after the draw with Southampton, Mourinho cut a depressed figure.
He said: "I feel unlucky, yes. The boys are trying, but we have lots of problems.
"We lost Lukaku and we lost Ibrahimovic for a month. To lose him for a month means he stops his run to recovery. He has been running for many months.
"In the period where what he needs is to play and have minutes, we now lose him for a month.
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"We lose Lukaku, I don’t know for how long.
"We finish the year in third position in the table, but we have to fight to improve our position."
United will also be without Ashley Young for three games after he was retrospectively banned for an elbow on Dusan Tadic.