The Mirror reports that Fulham turned down the opportunity to sign France striker Antoine Griezmann in 2014. Instead, they elected to sign Kostas Mitroglou for the same price, who has never scored a goal for the club.
25-year-old Griezmann’s most recent achievement was scoring both goals in the Euro 2016 Semi-Final victory over Germany. Mitroglou has spent the majority of his time at Craven Cottage away on loan with Olympiacos and Benfica.
The Cottagers were then managed by former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen. They were battled against relegation into the Championship. They made an enquiry to Real Sociedad, who Griezmann was playing for. They responded saying he is all yours for £12million…..they said no. Instead, they plumped for Mitroglou from Olympiacos.
Although Mitroglou has largely been a success in both his loan moves away, he never replicated that with the club. Last season he won the Primeira Liga title with Benfica, scoring 21 goals.
Frenchman Griezmann helped Atletico reach the Champions League final thanks to his 30-plus goal tally. Would he have saved Fulham from the drop? If you saw him play against Germany on Thursday then many would say so! It just wasn’t to be, Fulham were relegated and they haven’t returned since. This is very much a case of one that probably got away.
