The Atletico Madrid forward was the Red Devils' No.1 target at the start of the summer window.

They actively pursued him and were reported to have agreed personal terms, only for the French forward to opt to stay in Spain after Atleti's transfer ban was upheld.

Griezmann signed a new deal and committed himself to the Madrid side until next summer.

And Simeone takes it as a compliment that big clubs are tracking his star players.

Simeone said: "I’m happy about Griezmann and I’m happy that the best teams in the world want him.

"That says something good about us.

"It shows that everything we do to improve is good for us."

Griezmann has admitted he is not sure where his future lies in the summer of 2018.

After rejecting United, he explained: "To be honest, I don’t know.

"I’m going to be here next season, after that we’ll see.

“It’s absurd to talk about something more than a year away.

“I stayed mainly because of the ban. Atletico need me more than ever. It would be dirty to leave.

“I wouldn’t have been myself or the person that I feel I am today, if I had left the club in that way.

“I spoke to Diego Simeone about the situation, our options and how he wanted me to stay to work out what we could do.

“Then we finalised everything with [chief executive] Miguel Angel Gil."