If Sanchez signs I can't see United going for Griezmann. They won't play the same position but I don't think their styles complement each other well.
With a front 3 of Sanchez, Lukaku and Martial/Rashford, the team needs more creativity rather than another goal scorer. Ozil would be a better option at number 10 behind that 3. He is also available for free, plays well with Sanchez and seems to have a great relationship with Jose.
Griezmann seems likely to go to Barca anyway but Ozil is a signing that makes a lot of sense.
I think Griezmann would compliment our other players well, were he to line up at no.10 with Martial, Lukaku and Sanchez around him. To say we don’t need another goal scorer and dismissing him as such is doing him a disservice.
His game is all about movement and sharp touches - he has a supreme appreciation of space, both laterally, finding pockets ‘in the hole’ as a great many advanced midfielders/ withdrawn strikers do/ have done (David Silva, Rooney, Tevez) and making penetrating runs from deep (Ljungberg, Pedro, Ludovic Giuly). He creates space for himself and his teammates excellently, and exploits it equally so.
His game on the ball is all about pass and move, he is highly technical and often plays one-two’s and uses one or two touches in the same way that Pogba, Martial and Ibrahimovic have done in tight spaces.
I could see him enhancing that aspect of our play and he also has more of an inclination to operate in the inside right channel than any of the players in our second line of attack - which could help the balance of the team, with all of said good, sharp passing combinations coming down the left. With Sanchez on the right and Griezmann no.10 I would hope we could build play more evenly using the entire pitch.
For an example of how beneficial a player of Griezmann’s ilk could be to our play, you only have to look at Lingard - a player of similar tendencies, a perpetual mover/ runner. Even before his recent patch of terrific form, he offered something different in his general play and helped balance the side by not always coming towards the ball, when selected.
Were Lingard to carry on with his recent displays through to the end of the season, there would be a massive question mark around how worthwhile buying Griezmann would be - then again, Matic was brought in to replace the player of the year. I expect Lingard to tail off and continue being useful for team balance but in a starting spot which the club should look to upgrade, and for which Griezmann would be an upgrade.
For me though, he wouldn’t be the best upgrade with Ozil available on a free. Both Ozil’s movement and athleticism are underrated, he too is a very intelligent mover who consistently identifies space and often takes opportunities to run in behind. Griezmann is a busier player, more frenetic with his running, whereas Ozil is more conservative and has more imagination, range and ability in his passing.
I expect us to sign Ozil and I think it would be a no-brained really. I question where Sanchez is going to play, how impactful he’s going to be and how much his first six months here will impact our summer transfer plans. In Madrid, Mourinho mostly moved Ozil to the right wing or the bench for the games against Barcelona. Here there would be far more ‘big’ games against sides of similar quality to ourselves, so I also question how that would work and whether Jose would prefer a more secure no.10 or a deeper midfield player. Despite all that I still expect us to sign him simply because there’s no point missing out on him for free.
