Diego Simeone Talks Antoine Griezmann Future at Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has hailed Antoine Griezmann's continuing importance to the club after his goalscoring display in Wednesday's 3-2 victory over Valencia. 

Atletico had to win to keep the La Liga title race running until at least the weekend:

It was a tough victory over Los Che, but Atleti came through thanks to goals from Alvaro Morata, Griezmann and Angel Correa.

The French striker's strike was his 15th of the league season:

His remarkable consistency has seen him heavily linked to Barcelona both this season and last, but Simeone said after the victory that Griezmann is in his plans for Atleti's future, per Mundo Deportivo (h/t Dejan Kalinic of Goal):

"A very important player for the present and the future of the club and the team. He is one of the captains and we hope that next season he will have an intense season like now."

Griezmann, 28, has the quality to command a spot in just about any team in Europe, and if he had made the move to the Camp Nou last summer he would be in with a chance of winning a treble this term.

However, he is the star man in Simeone's squad, a position he would not hold if he moved to a bigger club.

And he has won major silverware in his near five seasons at Atleti, most notably the UEFA Europa League in 2017-18 before going on to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France.

Last June, Griezmann ended speculation about a possible move to Barca by penning a new contract in Madrid to 2023.

According to Marca, that deal also included a €200 million (£173 million) release clause.

That does not make him unattainable, as there are some clubs in Europe who could cough up such a fee if they wanted—Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United are among the leading candidates.

But it does mean Atletico can be fairly certain of holding onto Griezmann this summer, and Simeone is clearly confident he will still have him in his squad next term.