Man United end Griezmann interest, Mourinho wants exciting £50m alternative

A host of British media outlets, including The Guardian, are stating that Manchester United have ended their interest in Antoine Griezmann, while The Mirror claim that Jose Mourinho wants Lyon superstar Alexandre Lacazette instead.

The Old Trafford outfit are expected to splash the cash on a new attacker this summer, with a host of top-quality names being touted with the Premier League club in recent weeks.

Griezmann has been the player most-commonly linked with United and the Atletico Madrid star recently stated on French television that he was ‘6/10 likely’ to join the Red Devils before next season.

However, a deal that was looking increasingly likely to happen has seemingly cooled, with the latest report suggesting that Mourinho has changed his focus to search for a new out-and-out striker, rather than a number ten.

Atletico’s transfer ban was upheld on Thursday, meaning the La Liga side would be unable to sign a replacement for Griezmann, while the player himself turned to Twitter to post ‘More now than ever, Atleti’.

Ahora más que nunca #Atleti #Todosjuntos 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/nfxcwInM2B

— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) June 1, 2017

The report does state that United may turn to the France international in the future and that Mourinho remains a fan of his abilities.

Meanwhile, The Mirror state that on the back of the interest in Griezmann waning, United will turn their attention to Lyon star Lacazette.

The French forward has been on a multitude of radars over recent years given his goalscoring heroics in Ligue 1 and recently stated that this summer he wanted to leave his boyhood club for a new challenge.

The report suggests that Lacazette, who scored 28 league goals in 28 starts in 2016-17, would command a fee of around £50 million.

The 26-year-old is a clinical number nine and would provide an alternative to Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the furthest man forward in the United side.

The report suggests that Mourinho has also considered Everton’s Romelu Lukaku and Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata, but Lacazette is his number one choice as a striking recruit.