Messi calls Griezmann to invite him to Barça next season

The France striker is torn between remaining at Atlético and moving to Camp Nou and the Argentina captain is the latest to try and tip the balance.

Atlético Madrid have been pulling out all the stops to try and convince star striker Antoine Griezmann that his future lies at the Metropolitano in the face of a concerted drive by Barcelona to secure the France international’s services this summer.

The Camp Nou have made little attempt to conceal their desire to land the prolific Atlético man, with director of institutional and sporting relations Guillermo Amor, Luis Suárez and even club president Josep Maria Bartomeu making fairly public overtures in his direction.

Atlético have offered Griezmann improved terms on a new five-year deal – and a bigger salary than is currently on offer at Barcelona – and which would include no increase in his 100-million-euro minimum release clause, but as yet the striker has yet to declare what his intentions beyond the end of the current season are.

However, it seems that Leo Messi has pitched in to try and persuade Griezmann to join him at Camp Nou, according to sources close to the Frenchman. Messi is thought to have called Griezmann personally to offer reassurances that he will be welcomed with open arms in the dressing room despite a proliferation of attacking talent already trying their boots on a weekly basis at the club. Barça have even mooted the possibility of throwing a one-year loan deal for Ousmane Dembélé to join Atlético into any potential deal for Griezmann.