Antoine Griezmann Admits to 'Losing Sleep' Over Decision to Reject Barcelona Over the Summer

Atletico Madrid and France star forward Antoine Griezmann has admitted that he lost sleep over deciding whether he should leave the Rojiblancos for Barcelona in the summer or remain put.

The World Cup winner was Barca's chief target during the mid-year transfer window and he was heavily tipped to leave the Wanda Metropolitano. However, the player committed his future to his current club and signed a new deal after announcing his decision in a video ahead of the tournament in Russia.

Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Griezmann has since revealed that he chose to remain with Atletico because they showed him love and tried their best to create a great atmosphere for him. But, given that Barcelona were the ones looking to sign him, he was obliged to give serious consideration.

The forward claims remaining with Atleti was the biggest and hardest decision he's ever had to make, so much so, it made sleeping difficult to the point where he had to wake his wife up at 3 am to consult with her.

"Like I said, I was given love," he said to Telefoot (H/T Sportsmail). "Everyone wanted to know how I was doing. It was the hardest decision of my career. I woke up my wife at 3am to talk about it."

Meanwhile, Atleti have gotten off to a slow start in La Liga this season and sit in fifth place on the league table with eight points after five games. Griezmann, though, is confident they can compete for the title, as well as the Champions League, at the end of the term.

"In the Champions League we will try to do better than last year when we did not reach the knockouts," he added.

Soccrates Images/GettyImages

"It was in a large part my fault because I was not good mentally. In the league, we will try to stay with both Barcelona and Madrid."