Guillermo Amor manages to put his foot in it
In the closing phase of his speech ahead of Atletico's traditional Christmas lunch, Enrique Cerezo commented on the ongoing case surrounding Antoine Griezmann. His habitual jovial tone disappeared momentarily with the president claiming: “We demand respect”. Later over the lunch he further commented on the case. Atlético Madrid currently lie second in LaLiga and hope to win the title, a feat they achieved not so long ago securing the trophy at Barça's Camp Nou home. At present the club see how Barcelona are doing their utmost to lure their star striker away from the Metropolitano as was strongly alluded to by FC Barcelona's institutional and sporting director Guillermo Amor last Sunday in an interview with Mónica Marchante.
'Tapping-up'
I'm sure you are all aware that it's prohibited to talk to players about future moves unless the player in question has less than six months outstanding on his current deal. Despite that we're all aware that this is a situation that happens time and time again with the case surrounding Athletic Club goalkeeper Kepa and Real Madrid being another current case in point. It happens a lot! What doesn't happen a lot is that an executive from a major club openly admits that it is going on and whats-more live on Spanish television. What we also saw recently with Barça sporting director Robert with Gremio's Arthur whereby the player posed with the club director wearing a Barça shirt is also somewhat of an anomaly.
Atleti fans and their ire
Why did Amor's slip happen? A desire to show off, a blunder or perhaps a lack of media training for the role. It seems apparent that football clubs feel that those who performed well on the pitch will automatically do the same in the board-room and sometimes that simply isn't the case. At present Barça run the risk of putting Griezmann in a complex situation with Atleti fans beginning to question even more the loyalty of of of their key players illegally in discussion with a direct rival. Gremio's fans have the same right to be annoyed with Arthur after posing in the famous navy and claret shirt with Robert. These situations are clearly rooted in one thing ....money.