03 June, 2017
Antoine Griezmann has pledged his loyalty to Atletico Madrid after their transfer ban was upheld, appearing to rule out a summer move to Manchester United in the process.
Los Colchoneros and neighbours Real Madrid were both banned from registering players for two transfer windows in 2016 after being found guilty of breaching transfer regulations involving foreign players under the age of 18.
Alternately, if United are set on Griezmann and Griezmann is set on United and Atletico Madrid are set on Lacazette, it's plausible all the parties would be content to wait until the January transfer window.
They live within 100km of the club.
Cas' decision was due to be released on Wednesday but was delayed until Thursday, which Altetico said showed a "lack of respect" to the club.
He was linked with the club for months and when he revealed that there was a "6 out of 10" chance of him moving to Manchester on French TV most people expected the other 40% depended on Champions League qualification.
Torino striker Andrea Belotti is another player that has been linked with a move to Old Trafford, so too Alvaro Morata - although a move for the Spain worldwide could be problematic given Real Madrid's interest in David De Gea.
Cas have reduced Atletico's fine from 900,000 Swiss Francs (£719,793) to 550,000 (£439,873).
Atletico made a pointed reference to its local rival's lighter judgment in its statement Thursday.
Atlético also issued a statement on their website in which they similarly complained of "discriminatory treatment to our entity, since recently and in a similar case, the penalty was partially lifted, allowing to register players starting on July 1st".
Starsport understands interest in Griezmann has been cooled with Everton striker Romelu Lukaku now the top priority.
Villaverde hit out after Atleti saw their ban upheld after Real Madrid had theirs partially lifted previous year. Gameiro signed for Atletico one year ago when the club stocked up after successfully getting the Federation Internationale de Football Association sanction frozen during the appeal process.
