Atletico Madrid appears resigned to losing £43.5million-rated attacking midfielder Antoine Griezmann to Chelsea this summer and have now paved the ways for Blues boss Jose Mourinho to make his move for Antoine Griezmann by lining up Tottenham’s Erik Lamela as his potential replacement.
According to the Evening Standard the 24-year-old French star is high-up on Mourinho’s shopping list, and Atletico know they would be helpless to keep Griezmann at the Vincent Calderon should Chelsea trigger his £43.5 million release clause.
Meanwhile Erik Lamela is no stranger to Diego Simeone, working as the coach at River Plate, while Lamela was then coming up through the club ranks, and he now sees the 23-year-old from Buenos Aires as the perfect player to fill the void should he lose Griezmann to Chelsea.
Meanwhile he will face a tough round of negotiations with Tottenham owner Daniel Levy, who knowing what Chelsea has just paid will be looking to get back the £30 million they paid to AS Roma for the winger in 2013.
