Griezmann, Aguero, Morata, Costa and More: Is a Striker Merry-Go-Round Looming?

Financially speaking, if a market becomes flooded with a certain type of product, prices for said product plummet. That's the theory anyway, but this is football's transfer market, a law unto itself, a place so detached from real life it needs its own iconic intro, drums and all: "Sky and BT Studios present, in conjunction with Jorge Mendes..."

This approaching summer, you're going to want to be a football agent. Even amid a congested market, brokering deals for strikers will be the most profitable business around. In terms of ammunition ready to be moved, we're looking at similar to what Jonah Hill and Miles Teller had on their hands in War Dogs when moving more than 100 million rounds fit for AK-47s. This lot don't need repackaging, though. 

Perhaps never before has a transfer window loomed as so high-powered. Come June, it's possible that Antoine Griezmann, Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Morata, Diego Costa, Karim Benzema, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku will all be on the market in one way or another. That noise you can hear is their representatives clicking through the Lamborghini website in anticipation. 

Based on recent evidence, the prices will be predictably absurd. "If a player like [Paul] Pogba costs €105 million," wrote German legend Lothar Matthaus in Bild (h/t the Daily Mail) in December, "Borussia Dortmund would have to get €150 million for Aubameyang."

You can't beat this sort of logic. Never mind that Pogba is four years younger than Aubameyang and likely to have a longer career at the top as a midfielder rather than a forward; let's just grab the ridiculous number from the latest deal and make it more ridiculous for the next one. And yet, in a way, Matthaus is spot-on: This is the logic the transfer market deals in. 

Of course, before our tongues start drooling/eyes start rolling, we need to be careful in our anticipation. Even if that's in part to avoid prompting Costa into taking to Instagram again to say that we "talk too much s--t," it's mainly to acknowledge that this is likely to be a series of chain reactions rather than the fastest and nastiest auction since Shooter McGavin pinched away the house of Happy Gilmore's grandma. 

You sense one of those chain reactions will start with Costa. Though the Chelsea striker admitted to Movistar Plus (h/t Goal) in August that he'd wanted a return to Atletico Madrid last summer, China looks to be the bigger lure now. 

Last month, the Brazilian-born Spain international was the subject of a £30 million-per-year offer from a club in the Chinese Super League, per David Hytner of the Guardian. Amid a training-ground row with manager Antonio Conte over fitness, the Italian shouted "go to China!" at his star forward before the trip to Leicester City, according to Sky Italia (h/t MailOnline). 

Costa hinted that his treatment in England was behind his desire to move last summer. He also said it was about the language and the weather. Even if his Instagram account suggests he's doing just fine with the lingo, you couldn't blame him if he headed off to China in the summer. If this writer was offered £30 million per year to go to the Far East, you wouldn't be getting Monday's column. 

Losing the fiery striker would be a blow for Chelsea, but it's not as though they'll be short for replacement options and players wanting to ply their trade under Conte. 

Leading the Premier League scoring charts, Lukaku would be a natural fit stylistically. Strong, fast, agile, technically excellent and deadly with both feet, the Belgian has similarities with Costa, despite lacking the personality that enjoys giving the figurative finger to the rest of football.

Watching two defenders bounce off him as he scored his fourth goal in Everton's 6-3 win over Bournemouth on Saturday was cartoon stuff. It was also all the evidence anyone needed to know he'd fit right in with the tradition of bullying Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. 

But if Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has too much pride to repurchase a player he once sold, he could go shopping at Real Madrid. Though the nonchalant and paradoxical Benzema might be viewed in the same feline terms by Conte as he once was by former Blues manager Jose Mourinho, Morata would be right up Conte's alley. 

According to Matt Law of the Telegraph, the Spaniard has already told friends he expects to join Chelsea in the coming summer. After exercising his buy-back clause at Juventus, Real Madrid haven't given the 24-year-old the playing time he was looking for, despite often outshining Benzema in his limited opportunities. For Conte, he'd be perfect: fast, urgent, aggressive; a player who seemingly contests every minute with something to prove. 

If Morata were to depart the Santiago Bernabeu, expect Real Madrid to get into action. After several windows of inactivity by his standards, the Galactico-loving president Florentino Perez's fingernails are said to look like a chain-smoker's after being locked in a cupboard for a week. 

Almost three years have passed since Perez signed James Rodriguez. Recently, his chequebook has been bound by a transfer ban and manager Zinedine Zidane's almost-unprecedented power for a man in his position.  

By the summer, however, Aubameyang is expected to be high on Madrid's list of priorities. The Gabonese has repeatedly expressed his wish to don the white shirt and last month didn't so much hint at an exit as get the lawyers to send over the divorce documents.  

"I love it at Dortmund, but I can't say that I'll stay for two more years, or five or 10. It's possible that a club could reach an agreement with Dortmund in June and I'll go," he told Fussball Bild (h/t Sky Sports). 

But Aubameyang could be involved in a different chain reaction. If Griezmann departs Atletico Madrid this summer and heads for Manchester United, as reported by the Independent's Miguel Delaney, Atletico will be in the market, too.

Having been eased to the periphery by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Aguero could be a prime candidate to replace Griezmann. Though the never-shy club president Enrique Cerezo told Onda Cero (h/t Marca) earlier this week that Aguero left Atleti in 2011 "out of the back door," he's since softened his stance—perhaps in the knowledge he might soon need him. 

"I said on the radio that Aguero was a fool, but he's not a fool," Cerezo said, according to Marca. "He is one of the best players in the history of football, and I said he was stupid for leaving Atletico. He's a great player and a good friend."

A possible Aguero departure would create a need at City. It's where Aubameyang could fit back in, with The Sun's Martin Lipton reporting the Dortmund star is considered a potential replacement for the Argentinian at the Etihad. 

It's dizzying stuff, eh? Going round in circles tends to do that, and this is all before you consider that Alexis is in a contract standoff with Arsenal that could implicate others; that Lyon's Lacazette has told Canal+ (h/t ESPN FC) that the coming summer "will be the moment for a change."

Like Costa, perhaps Griezmann is the man to kick off a chain reaction despite his president's belief. "I believe in the contracts that people sign," Cerezo said. How cute. The market believes in money, and the coming summer will be a good time to be an agent.