The Messi factor to persuade Griezmann?

It's not normal for football clubs to publish full interviews that their players give with media outlets. Maybe they sometimes share pictures taken, or prizes awarded, but the publication of a whole interview is not usual practice. Therefore, Barcelona's recent behaviour stands out as slightly strange.

Messi's interview with 'Mundo Deportivo' has produced some very interesting quotes, including his views on Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, however the biggest headline-grabber is his response to a question about Antoine Griezmann. The Argentine was very complimentary about the Atletico Madrid forward, and hinted strongly at him moving to Barcelona. "He's a great player," Messi stated. "We would understand each other."

The conversation with the Spanish outlet was quite in-depth, with the Barca man insisting that his team "want to win everything, always". This is the phrase that Barcelona have used as the title of their re-post of the interview on their club website. Obviously putting the quotes about Griezmann in the title would have been a step too far.

With the Griezmann - Barca saga seeming to die out over the past few weeks, everything has now begun to heat up again, and we can expect the story to carry on rumbling along throughout the summer market. 

Barcelona are hopeful of lining up with the forward in their line-up next season, but Atleti are obviously very keen to keep him tied down at the Wanda Metropolitano. 

There is no doubt that having Leo Messi's blessing to come to the Camp Nou will be a positive sign for Griezmann, not that he would need much encouragement to make the move to the Catalan side. Whether or not it is a deliberate strategy from the club is hard to tell, but what's for certain is that this bound to rile Atletico fans up. Time will tell whether their tactics will pay off.