EURO 2024 Player to Watch: France’s Renaissance man 🇫🇷

In partnership with

OneFootball

Richard Buxton·17 June 2024

EURO 2024 Player to Watch: France’s Renaissance man 🇫🇷

EURO 2024 is almost upon us and some of the continent’s greatest players will soon be taking to the field in Germany and competing for European international football’s biggest prize.

Many PUMA athletes will be strutting their stuff at the tournament, and in this three-part series we are profiling the ones to watch.

OneFootball Videos

Today we have…

This browser is not supported, please use a different one or install the app

Name: Antoine Griezmann

Boots: PUMA ULTRA ULTIMATE

Age: 33

Nationality: French

International caps: 129

Clubs played for: Real Sociedad, Atlético de Madrid, Barcelona

Career highlights

Made debut on 29 August 2010 as a second-half substitute in Real Sociedad’s LaLiga win over Villarreal
Made international debut on 5 March 2014 in France’s 2-0 friendly victory over the Netherlands
Scored and was named Man of the Match in his country’s 2018 World Cup final against Croatia
Became the fifth most expensive transfer of all time by joining Barcelona for €120m in 2019

Playing style and evolution

When France won the World Cup in 2018, Griezmann appeared destined to rule the global game.

A proficient goal-getter with a selfless streak, his Man of the Match display against Croatia should have catapulted him into the reckoning for the Ballon d’Or.

Yet the forward became something of a footballing bridesmaid; losing out on the award and Atlético’s first LaLiga title in seven years due after an unsuccessful move to Barcelona, and Les Bleus’ captaincy to sparring partner Kylian Mbappé.

Since returning to the Spanish capital, however, Griezmann has discovered a new lease of life by harnessing his unrelenting attacking qualities to become the Colchoneros’ all-time leading goal scorer. He also struck up a devastating partnership with Álvaro Morata that was Europe’s most prolific at the midway point of last season.

Best goal so far

An instinctive opener in Atlético’s 2016/17 Champions League group stage win over FC Rostov. Griezmann’s lightning reflexes allowed him to hook the ball into the roof of the net on the spin after Sardar Azmoun’s header helped on Yannick Carrasco’s cross.

What can we expect from him at EURO 2024?

France’s run to the 2022 World Cup final offered a taste of Griezmann’s EUROs remit.

No player created more than the 22 chances he amassed while the 33-year-old also produced the most passes into the penalty area.

His role under Didier Deschamps this summer is likely to be as more of a deep-lying forward, sharing the No.10 berth with Marcus Thuram for his country.

His insistence that defence will remain key to Les Bleus’ hopes of going one better on their 2016 showpiece defeat will see him doing more tracking back than at previous tournaments.