Sunday’s news that Antoine Griezmann was flying to the United States to finalise a summer move to Orlando City was not unexpected, as the Atletico Madrid forward has long signalled that he would like to one day play in MLS.
Griezmann, who turned 35 on Saturday, makes the move to the United States towards the end of a glittering career — after winning the 2018 World Cup with France, becoming Atletico Madrid’s record scorer (he currently has 211 goals from 488 games) and spending two seasons playing alongside Lionel Messi for Barcelona.
Over more than a decade at elite level in Europe, Griezmann has proven himself a complete attacker, capable both of scoring and creating goals, with individual recognition coming when he twice placed third in the Ballon d’Or, the coveted award recognising the best male footballer worldwide across the previous 12 months, in 2016 and 2018.
While starring at the top in European football, Griezmann has not hidden an affinity for American sports and culture, frequently holidaying in the U.S. and attending NBA and NFL games. In November last year, he featured in the official broadcast when the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Commanders at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the first NFL game to be played in Spain.
Griezmann takes a selfie with fans at the Bernabeu before the NFL game there between Washington and Miami last year (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
A big fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Griezmann has played fantasy American football for years. He even hosted his own podcast analysing games during the 2023 NFL season, when Mahomes and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.
Griezmann also famously shouted out former Chicago Bulls basketball star Derrick Rose on U.S. TV after winning that World Cup in 2018. During a Fox Sports interview with his France team-mate Paul Pogba, Griezmann came over, literally grabbed the microphone and said simply: “I love Derrick Rose.”
He scored four goals during that tournament in Russia, including a coolly-converted go-ahead penalty late in the first half as France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final. It was the pinnacle of a France career in which he scored 44 times and provided 38 assists in 137 appearances.
Other highlights include finishing as the tournament’s six-goal top scorer as host nation France reached the 2016 European Championship final, and helping beat Spain to win the inaugural Nations League title in 2021. He will not be at this summer’s World Cup as he retired from international football following Euro 2024 to focus on prolonging his club career.
Burgundy-born Griezmann left home aged just 13 for the Spanish Basque Country and San Sebastian-based La Liga club Real Sociedad, having not been picked up by local team Lyon.
He made his debut aged 18 in 2009 and, after helping the team qualify for the Champions League, he moved on to Atletico in summer 2014 for €30million (£26m; $34.8m at the current rates), winning the Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Super Cup and Europa League in his first four seasons there.
However, Griezmann’s path to legendary status at Atletico was a winding one.
After scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Marseille of France in the 2018 Europa League final, he flirted publicly with a move to Barcelona.
Inspired by LeBron James’ 2010 ESPN TV show The Decision — in which the basketball star announced he would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat as a free agent — Griezmann made his own 45-minute version, with the same title, when talk about his future was at its most intense that summer.
Mi afición, mi equipo, MI CASA! @atleti 🔴⚪🔴
Mes supporters, mon équipe, MA MAISON ! @AtletiFR 🔴⚪🔴
My fans, my team, MY HOME!!! @atletienglish 🔴⚪🔴 pic.twitter.com/ByD8Cju5Yb
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) June 14, 2018
It culminated in him revealing he would be staying at Atletico, but that move to the Camp Nou did happen 13 months later, when Barca paid €120million to sign him in July 2019.
Griezmann’s two seasons in Catalonia were not the happiest, however. He never fitted completely into a team where an ageing Messi was still king, while the club were also going through a historic low point. He did score the opening goal in Barca’s 2021 Copa del Rey final victory against Athletic Club, but four months later returned to Atletico, initially on loan, taking a pay cut and turning down more lucrative offers from elsewhere.
In a documentary produced by Atletico called Another Way Of Living, Griezmann was open about knowing he needed to win over team-mates and fans who were unhappy about how he had left the club.
Messi and Griezmann celebrate during a Barcelona Champions League match in February 2020 (Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
“I haven’t been sleeping well since all this started,” he told the cameras on his return to Atletico’s training ground. “I hope I can sleep peacefully now that I’m finally here.”
The first season back did not go so well, but a tight personal relationship with long-serving head coach Diego Simeone eventually helped Griezmann settle back in. The tough Argentinian always respected the wiry Frenchman’s hard work and commitment on the pitch, as well as his exemplary professionalism and attitude in training.
“If Griezmann had never come to Atletico, he would have been a great player, but without Simeone maybe he would not have evolved so much in how he plays,” former Atletico defender Roberto Solozabal told The Athletic in December 2023, when Griezmann became Atletico’s record goalscorer by passing the previous mark of 174 set by club legend Luis Aragones in the 1960s and 1970s.
That achievement was even more impressive given Griezmann often played a deeper, roving role for Atletico, knitting moves together and creating chances for team-mates as well as finishing them himself. Over the past two seasons especially, he has often been deployed in this more withdrawn position. He has also accepted no longer being an automatic pick in the starting line-up, especially after Argentina star Julian Alvarez was signed from Manchester City in summer 2024.
Griezmann and Alvarez celebrate during Atletico’s Champions League victory over Tottenham (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
Last summer, Griezmann was linked heavily with a move to MLS with Los Angeles FC, who had already signed his former France team-mates Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud. However, he stayed at Atletico and, in recent months, has returned to excellent form. He starred in an attacking midfield role in a Copa del Rey semi-final win against Barcelona, also using all his experience to help Atletico progress past Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League’s last 16.
Those performances came amid heated speculation over him signing for Orlando — a deal the MLS club had hoped might happen during the primary transfer window at the start of their season, which is closing on Thursday.
Atletico coach Simeone was publicly respectful of Griezmann’s wishes, but behind the scenes pressed hard for the player not to leave in the middle of the European club season.
Although Griezmann is under contract until summer 2027, the Atletico hierarchy allowed him to make his own decision over his future. Alvarez, nine years his junior, is seen as the team’s most important creative leader into the future, while savings on the Frenchman’s salary can be invested in other areas of the squad.
Atletico’s progress to a Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad on April 18 made it difficult for Griezmann to depart for America now. Missing out on the possibility of helping them win what would be a first-ever Champions League title in May would also have been tough.
That all reflects a nagging detail to his Atletico career — a lack of the biggest club honours.
He joined in July 2014, two months after the first La Liga title of Simeone’s time as coach, and he was a Barcelona player when they won their most recent domestic championship five years ago. He also missed a penalty in normal time as Atletico lost the 2016 Champions League final to neighbours Madrid in a shootout after the game ended as a 1-1 draw.
Another trophy in the coming weeks and months — whether that be the Copa del Rey or the Champions League — would allow this club legend to leave Atletico on a high, before heading to Florida and beginning another chapter in one of world football’s most storied careers.