Manchester United Transfer News: Barcelona Lead Race to Sign Antoine Griezmann

Manchester United will reportedly "face a battle" to sign Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann if they return for him in the summer, as he is unconvinced about a move to the Premier League giants and would prefer to stay in Spain.

As a result, Barcelona lead the race to snap him up at the end of 2017-18, when the French forward is expected to depart Atleti, according to Rob Dawson of ESPN.co.uk.

Dawson added Griezmann, who has a release clause of €100 million, is open to a move to United, but he and his wife, Erika Choperena, "have reservations about swapping Madrid for Manchester."

Griezmann, 26, was heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford last summer before he opted to remain at Atleti while they were under a transfer ban, per BBC Sport.

Their FIFA-imposed sanction has now been lifted, and attacking duo Diego Costa and Vitolo have both finally joined Diego Simeone's squad.

The path now looks clear for Griezmann's exit in the summer but it is unclear where he will go.

Barca's interest led to Atletico complaining to FIFA about the Catalan's pursuit of their star forward, per Ed Malyon of The Independent.

However, the Blaugrana have recently secured the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, and they may now decide they do not need to add Griezmann to their impressive attacking ranks. 

That could be a potential boost for United, although it was reported late last year that Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho is not interested in signing Griezmann anyway, per Luis F. Rojo of Marca.

The France international has been Atleti's key attacking threat for the past four seasons, and he could thrive at Old Trafford alongside the likes of Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford.

However, it seems the Premier League giants will not be front-runners to sign Griezmann if they decide to go back in for him at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.