Journalist Fabrizio Romano has played down speculation linking Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann with a move to Manchester United.

Reports over the weekend had claimed that the Red Devils did enquire about the World Cup winner’s availability in the summer but Romano says the Frenchman is not expected to leave Atletico:

“I’m aware of speculation that Manchester United enquired about Antoine Griezmann in the summer, but my understanding is there’s not a lot to it. At the moment, the situation is still not clear between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona for Griezmann so there’s still nothing happening with other clubs as of now. Griezmann is 100% focused on Atletico Madrid.”

Griezmann is still effectively on loan at Atletico from Barcelona, and there was a concern that Diego Simeone’s side were looking to send the striker back to his parent club at the end of the season.

Certain conditions stipulated in the loan agreement would mean that his switch to Atletico would be made permanent if he started a certain number of league games. This season, he has almost exclusively been used as a substitute raising suspicions that Los Colchoneros were looking to pull out of the deal.

It led to claims in Spain that Arsenal would be among his potential options, along with Manchester United, if he were to be made available in January. However, after starting the Madrid derby at the weekend, it appears that Griezmann’s future does lie at Atletico.