“Griezmann, c'est magnifique”. That was the poster that Barça prepared to officially announce the signing of the famous French striker on July 12, 2019, for whom he paid his termination clause, 120 million euros., after failing the agreement agreement with Atlético de Madrid, who reproached the Barca club for having reached an agreement with the striker in March. The signing caused a feint of Atlético's complaint to FIFA that was never heard from again. By the same dates, by the way, Jorge Mendes was trying to place Semedo in Atlético de Madrid.
Thus, Griezmann became a Barcelona player on July 12, 2019. He signed for five years and the club set its termination clause at 800 million euros. Griezmann arrived between doubts. They already know. First, his intimate and exhibitionist documentary The Decision made him enemies in Barcelona. The modern of social networks and the traditional that vibrated with the players who expressed their crazy desire to play at Barça.
But there was more, With Griezmann, the boy who took so many years to find his place in football and, after being rejected in multiple French clubs in his childhood, began to become a player at Real, there was a reasonable doubt: his football fit with Messi. Winner as second striker in France runner-up in Europe and world champion with Deschamps; Winner as second striker with Atlético Europa League champion and runner-up of the Champions, that place at Barça is reserved for the best player in the world, six times Ballon d'Or.
A year after his arrival, the question has not been resolved and the debate continues. It is easy to conclude, therefore, that Griezmann has not succeeded outright in his first year at Barça. What's more, that term is still far away. He has played quite a bit, no less than 46 games. He has scored 15 goals, one goal every three games, far from his average at Atlético de Madrid. But, above all, it has not been expressed with the forcefulness that it had done all these years in LaLiga.
Starting at the beginning, Griezmann was discreet on the tour of Japan but then, in the United States, a match against Naples raised expectations for his connection to Suárez and the missing man, again due to injuries, Dembélé. Then came the confetti display after his first goal at Camp Nou. And later, the first gray moments, which seemed to turn in late November and December. It seemed that, without being Neymar's, there was a trident. Against Eibar, Borussia Dortmund, Mallorca … Something was going on.
Everything went to hell with the defeat against Atlético de la Supercopa and the injury of Suárez. Since then, Griezmann has continued to search for his place in the sea of Setien systems. His return after confinement was also somewhat disappointing until the Villarreal match came. There it was found that, playing in his place, the Little Prince continues to maintain his status as a top footballer. If it is a matter of letting go, of trust with your teammates, of adaptation to an internalized way of playing for so many years at Barça, only the player knows. But it seems that there is much more to his legs.
No one knows if Villarreal really was only a one-day flower. The fact is that Griezmann completed his first year at Barça this Sunday and will not play in this League again. No one knows whether to hold on to the fact that his goal against Napoli keeps Barça alive in the Champions League.; that he always wanted to finish as a Barça player; or that its fit seems impossible. A “complete incomplete”, Pau Donés sang. If faith is kept in French, that should be Griezmann in his first year at Barça.