Why It Is Vital Atletico Madrid Stand Firm and Keep Antoine Griezmann

Atletico Madrid top scorer Antoine Griezmann continues to be linked with a move away from the club, despite having said several times that he is perfectly happy to stay where he is.

The back-and-forth nature of any potential move for the French forward has been highlighted just this past week in the English media; the Daily Mail reported that Chelsea had been "handed a boost" as Griezmann had indicated that a move to the Premier League was his preference.

However, the same outlet four days later reported the Atleti No. 7 saying he "wanted to continue" where he was, saying "I'm not going."

It appears that player and club are aligned for now, but relationships can always change quickly in football. Regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season, Griezmann is one player who Atletico must ensure they keep in place at the Vicente Calderon, even if big bids are eventually received.

Goals

First and foremost, Griezmann is not just Atletico's best attacker but also one of the best goalscorers in La Liga.

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He has 12 this season in league play and 19 overall—nobody else at the club even comes close to keeping pace with his strike rate, following on from his 22 Liga goals last season.

As Atleti themselves found out with the Jackson Martinez fiasco this season, finding a regular source of goals is not as easy as it might be thought, and giving up the one they have without a huge fight would be a monumental mistake.

It's also worth noting that Griezmann nets all manner of goals. Close-range finishes, headers, solo runs which split the defence and long-range efforts. He offers a complete variation of attacking impetus and is the sort of player who might need not just one replacement, but two, to pick up the slack if he was to depart.

Renewal and reliability of attack

Goalscoring aside, there's a lot to Griezmann's game. He is an outlet from defence with his pace and dribbling, he works hard and is tactically aware of what he has to bring to the team.

Even when he doesn't impact on the match in the final third—such as this past weekend against Getafe—he still contributes to build-up play, chases back to help protect the defence and allows Diego Simeone to change systems at will.

So far, neither young option—Luciano Vietto and Angel Correa—have managed to show this sort of all-round approach on a consistent basis, often performing well off the bench or for a couple of games, but failing to get on the scoresheet or keep up the level of performance for more than a month.

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They are young and improving, but they have been bought with the next couple of years in mind—once they have grown into the team supporting and playing alongside Griezmann, not with the intention to replace him.

Bringing those youngsters through into the team is one thing, having to then incorporate a new "starting" striker alongside them is another entirely, with little guarantee that either could offer up the consistency that Griezmann has managed over the past year-and-a-half.

Europe's top teams?

Movement within football is inevitable and once players reach a certain level there are only so many teams they can move to—those with domestic dominance, those with the chance of continental titles and those with deep, deep pockets.

That said, and even though it's natural that some top names will move between big clubs, if Atletico are to maintain their place around Europe's top table they need to keep hold of their own stars, especially at the risk of strengthening a rival. 

Regardless of trophies and success, the fact remains that Atleti will continue to be seen as a smaller club than Real Madrid, Manchester United and so on on the worldwide scale. To even maintain the distance between themselves and the biggest, Atleti cannot afford to let each top talent move on.

While some like Diego Godin might be determined to stay in place and be convinced they're already at the right club, one or two others may have to be effectively forced to do so by rejecting any and all transfer bids—and Griezmann should be at the top of that list.

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