Griezmann makes a wish

Griezmann, zero goals in five official games of the 2020-21 season and, even more chilling, two goals in the last 23 league games, wants to play as a midfielder for Barça. He says it quietly with the French team, where he congratulates himself on the confidence that Deschamps and his teammates have in him, and slides it to his spokesmen, who send implicit messages demanding that the world champion play more focused.

Koeman arrived at Barça with the obsession of recovering three players: De Jong, Griezmann and Coutinho. For the first it is that 4-2-3-1 with which he fell in love at Ajax, where he seemed like another player for his ability to break lines and get off the hook in beautiful rides, now forgotten. The surprise was Coutinho, who went from transferable to occupying one of the most privileged positions in the field, that of hitch. Koeman considers that Coutinho has more game dynamics and more participation than Griezmann, and he relies on the Brazilian to build the game together with De Jong and Busquets. The coach also wanted to have preferential treatment with Griezmann. Heeling to the left most of last season, a position that prevented him from shining, Koeman thought it might be a good idea to put him on the right so that from there he could get closer to center and could relate more to the game. But Griezmann has not done it and has even seen something uncomfortable. In the end, for that position Messi ends up falling, which forces him to play pending the Argentine and occupying the spaces where the crack is not. Or at least, complementing it.

Griezmann has gone so unless Koeman charged it against Ferencvaros and repeated against Madrid. The Frenchman had a quarter of an hour and went out to play with a team that was tactically broken. He only touched one ball in those 14-15 minutes, but it wasn't his fault. Koeman cleared the field of midfielders and Madrid played at pleasure.

Griezmann is disappointed and in a difficult position. For one, their numbers are chilling. Two goals in the last 23 league games is unsustainable in a 120 million euro player. But the worst thing is not that, but to continue without finding a fit in which you can feel comfortable. His wish is for Koeman to wink at him and allow him to play as a playmaker in Turin. If Coutinho has had that opportunity; If Pedri is being the substitute for the Brazilian in that position, Griezmann feels legitimized, by curriculum, to ask at least to be put to the test in that demarcation. Even more than the Classic, Turin can in a way mark the relationship between Koeman and Griezmann. Of course, if the Dutchman places him in that position of hitch, the French will be obliged, once and for all, to demonstrate a supposed hierarchy that has not been seen since he dressed as a Barça player.