I would tell Griezmann to come to Barcelona: Samuel Umtiti

Bengaluru, November 5: Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has pledged that he will attempt and try to persuade his France teammate Antoine Griezmann to join him at Camp Nou if there is a possibility of landing Atletico Madrid's star forward in near future.

The French international earlier looked determined to be heading to Old Trafford this summer and even expressed candidly about his chance of a move during a television interview. However, a transfer ban for Atletico Madrid changed the whole scenario and the 26-year-old made a u-turn with the development to pledge his future to La Liga club.

The attacker also decided to sign an improved contract with the club later. However, there is still a strong influence from United over the Frenchman for a next year's transfer but according to some reports, the Barcelona board too also joined the race for the 26-year-old and want to take a chance and are willing to pay a figure of his release clause which is around £90m.

And now in a recent interview, his international teammate, Umtiti suggested that he willing to do his bit to lure him to the Nou Camp and will be happy to play alongside with him.

"If it is an option, I would tell Griezmann to come to Barcelona," Umtiti explained in an interview with Diari Ara."I have a great friendship with him.We can see by his work with Atletico, he's a top level player."

Griezmann scored 26 goals last season and helped Atletico finishing third in La Liga and reaching the Champions League semi-finals. He also ended third in the voting for last year's Ballon d'Or, just behind Lionel Messi and winner Cristiano Ronaldo.However, the attacker is struggling to maintain his form of last season with the underperforming Atletico squad this year as he has netted only thrice and registered the same number of assists in all competitions in 13 matches so far.

Barcelona received a world record fee of €222 million for Neymar this Summer and are eager to replace the star player with the stature of the same player. And if Barcelona clearly make Griezmann as one of their probable choices for the next windows, it is certain that the Red Devils will face serious competition for the player. And it will be interesting whether they can persuade him to the Camp Nou or again the Red Devils gain an upper hand over them.