Jose Mourinho has not ruled out January transfer activity at Manchester United but refused to be drawn on the prospect of making a move for Antoine Griezmann.
United were heavily linked with Griezmann during the last transfer window, with the 26-year-old hinting he would welcome the switch before committing to Atletico Madrid for the current campaign.
Speaking to L’Equipe, Atleti head coach Diego Simeone said it was natural his star forward would be allowed to move on, citing how Diego Costa and Arda Turan had similarly left the capital club for Chelsea and Barcelona.
Costa is now back at Atleti and ready to form a mouth-watering strike partnership with Griezmann from next month and Mourinho declined to comment on the prospect of formalising United’s interest in the latter when asked directly about the France forward before Sunday’s trip to West Brom.
“I don’t speak about players,” he said. “Especially players who belong to other clubs. There is no sense of me speaking about players.”
Nevertheless, in Griezmann and Mesut Ozil – the Arsenal playmaker whose contract expires at the end of this season – United find themselves linked to players whose futures appear particularly poised.
“I’m not a big defender of the January market but there are players and situations that sometimes you have the chance to do [something] and you shouldn’t lose that chance,” Mourinho said.
“I don’t like the January market just to buy [for the sake of it] but if you can buy a player in January that you would buy in June or July and can get him a few months before, then great.”
Griezmann has scored seven goals in 18 matches in all competitions this campaign, having netted at least 25 times in each of the past three seasons.
“I love my players a lot and I love to see them grow. I am not ungrateful,” Simeone said in the interview with the French publication.
“If a player comes to me and says, ‘Coach, I have a once in a lifetime chance to play for a certain team, I want to leave’. If he did all he could for me as Griezmann does, I’ll say it’s no problem. I know that he needs to grow.
“Of course, Griezmann will be able to leave at some point, the same way Costa and Arda Turan were allowed to leave.”
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