- After a delicate period since the recovery, Antoine Griezmann is in the process of reviving himself at Barça, where the management has clearly renewed his confidence for next season.
- Represented by his sister Maud, he is also a business partner of his father Alain and his brother Théo.
- The result of a unique journey, during which the family bond was put to the test but never gave up, quite the contrary.
When we talk about Antoine Griezmann, Alain, Maud and Théo are never far away. The father, big sister and little brother of the Barça striker, to which we will not forget to add mom Isabelle, of course, even if she follows her son's daily life in another way. A little less visible, perhaps, but certainly not less intense. The love that family members have for each other is for her a non-negotiable fact.
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World Champion Long live France long live the Republic🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷
A post shared by Alain Griezmann (@alaingriezmann) on Jul 16, 2018 at 1:47 am PDT
All play a major role in Grizou's career. The first, even. Maud, three years older, has been officially his agent for more than two years. It was she who was in the office of the Barcelona leaders, Tuesday, for a meeting intended to take stock of a delicate first season in Catalonia and to evoke the future ... which is taking shape alongside Lionel Messi. The last two games, Sunday and Wednesday, have also shown an increasingly sophisticated connection between the two players.
Alain and Théo (five years younger than Antoine) are their first supporters. Often for the better, sometimes for the worse, like last week where Antoine had to ask his father to withdraw a critical message towards Quique Setien, the coach of Barça, who had brought the son in the 90th minute of the shock against Atlético Madrid. Theo erased his messages where he said "want to cry". Father and brother are also business partners, the first in a racehorse company started in December, the second in the “Grizi Esport team”, launched in January.
"He needs his cocoon"
In short, "the Griezmanns are first and foremost a family affair", as noted by journalist Arnaud Ramsay in the preface to Behind the Smile , Antoine's autobiography released in 2017, which he co - written with the interested party. During the big year spent by his side for the needs of the book, he could realize how the family is an essential element in the life of the offensive leader of the France team. “Antoine likes working with the family. Their presence, even silent, reassures him. He needs his cocoon, says Ramsay. It may seem surprising to some, who will say that it is not framed enough and that for a player of his level you always need an army of communicators, but that's how it works. It brings freshness, I think. "
The journalist, who has also collaborated with Anelka, Lizarazu or Djorkaeff, refers to the few bad buzzes that have caught up with Griezmann in recent years, between his appearance on the Daily program in May 2017 and, above all, the film LaDecision, telling his hesitation between continuing at Atlético Madrid and signing at Barça, broadcast two days before the entry of the Blues in the 2018 World Cup. We will come back to this. Before that, we should go back to the origins of this family attachment.
The “heartbreak” of the departure
For that, who better than the man who allowed him to become professional by bringing him to the Real Sociedad at 13 and a half, after all the French clubs rejected this talented but too frail hope, Eric Olhats? The Basque, now a recruiter for the professional team of Atlético Madrid, describes himself in the autobiography as the one who was "the pawn, the friend, the whipping father, the uncle, the grandfather and the Santa Claus "by Griezmann. In fact, he is the one who accompanied the Mâconnais from adolescence to the life of a pro player. For six years, they lived together in Bayonne.
“He had this dream of becoming a footballer and who seemed not to be fulfilled with all these disappointments. It touched the family. When he was able to take this last opportunity with me, everyone was very happy, he recounts for 20 Minutes . The day I came to pick him up, they realized we were really there. Yes, it was a heartbreak because Antoine was taking up space at home. He was a living kid, with personality, very close to his brother and sister, on whom he looked after even when he was younger than she was. The shock was severe, they may not have expected all that. "
Crying and Reward
The story is known. The inevitable blues when one is 900 km from the family home, crying in the car bringing him back to the airport, after a weekend or vacation. "The first year was very difficult," said the father in Le Parisien in 2016. I encouraged him to stay, but it was harder for his mother. Whenever we drove from Mâcon to Lyon airport, we gave him the choice, he could go back. But Grizou still decided to persevere. “It is an extremely close-knit family. She has been the permanent ingredient in everything I have lived with Antoine, ”adds Olhats, then in very regular contact with the father to give news about school, football and everyday life. In the life of a teenager, what.
Griezmann grew up, went professional to Real Sociedad after his first season with the first team, in 2010. He became a leading player in La Liga, was called up to the French team by Didier Deschamps in 2014 and, after having played the World Cup in Brazil, sign at Atlético Madrid, where he quickly became essential. During this time, the family's involvement has never wavered. On the contrary. Weaned from contact with the younger brother for years, the clan has every opportunity to catch up.
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The brother 😍
A post shared by Antoine Griezmann (@antogriezmann) on Dec 24, 2018 at 9:41 am PST
"I very often saw them in Madrid, they spent a lot of time at his place, accompanying him in training or on his media obligations," says Sébastien Bellencontre, image consultant for the player from 2014. They release the image from a tight-knit family. It was refreshing, I had a great time with them. They are very simple and open people. "
Little by little, this presence will find continuity on a professional level. As a way for Griezmann to give something back to his family members? “There have been great moments of suffering. Somehow, it's a bit of making up for lost time, ”says Ramsay. "Beyond" making "things to them, it first pleases Antoine to do so, notes Bellencontre. He has not lost the education he was given. It has been in his DNA since childhood, to stick together as a family. It does this very naturally. He is lucky to be able to allow them to experience things and he does not hesitate. "
"Let's say that I get to know my brother only now," said Maud in 2016. When you grow up, adolescence is the period when you "train". We did not experience that period. It was quite complicated. Two or three years ago, I said: "I don't know my brother". With Théo, it bothered us because we thought we had missed a period of his life. "
In family history, a painful episode is also important. Maud was at Bataclan the evening of the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris. A drama that marks and brings together, even more. "An awareness and perhaps an accelerator" in the desire to work together, according to Arnaud Ramsay. It is in any case from 2016 that the big sister will take more and more place in the career of his brother. “She was not thrilled with what she was doing in her professional life. We integrated it into our working group and, logically, they took the trick in hand, ”explains Olhats. First press secretary, she then took over the sponsorship part then became the official representative of Griezmann, in the summer of 2017. She would create the structure By & For Sports Management.
End of an era
This is the end of the player's collaboration with Sébastien Bellencontre and his lifelong advisor. “I was getting to the end of something, and Antoine too, resumes Olhats. We did a lot of things together, he wanted to cut the cord a little because he was married, he had a child [his daughter Mia, born in 2016]. The situation was becoming more and more tense, I was a little worn too. Maud was already there, and there it was. "
It has been said that the separation was brought about by the mentor's refusal to come to the player's marriage to Erika, in June 2017. "It put a really big blow on my head", confides Antoine in the documentary "Griezmann confidential ”, produced by TMC that same year. "Honestly, we had been planning for a while now to put an end to our collaboration at the end of the season," replies the recruiter. If they went through difficult times, the two men are now on good terms.
With Bellencontre too. “Antoine has been approached by big agents [including Jorge Mendes], but we feel that he needs to stay in a circle of trust. It allows him to flourish and not have to ask too many questions, says the latter. We stopped collaborating because he needed his family to be more involved in his professional life. I felt it as a real need on his part, and I understood it without worries. "
2017 ... At 26, this is Griezmann leading his family boat. A natural evolution. Third in the 2016 Ballon d'Or, spearhead of Atlético de Simeone, married and dad, he is ready. "They felt they were doing things with each other," says Eric Olhats. And not only on the ground. Two years later, the clothing brand "The GZ Brand", already launched before by Théo, has grown well, the family passion for racehorses has given birth to a company and a team of esports has therefore been created.
The inter-being being often subject to fantasies, the critics did not fail as soon as it derailed a little. Cf the episodes mentioned above, the statement on his "six chances out of ten" to leave for Manchester United in the program of Yann Barthès, the staging around his false start of Atlético or even his blackface on the social media. Communication from amateurs for the most virulent, too light when you are a player of your standing for the most benevolent.
It is especially the film retracing his hesitation from Madrid that went wrong. Here's what his former image consultant said:
"I would have advised him not to do it like this." It was very awkward. The fact of saying "stay connected, you will know it exclusively", that implies that you have made an agreement and that potentially you are paid for that. In addition you produce this with an emblem of Barça (Gerard Piqué), to finally stay in Madrid ... You put everyone on your back, and especially your fans at Atlético while you stay. In my opinion, you should plan to take it out only if you leave. The timing is not good too, in the middle of the World Cup. It started from the desire to do something original but it was awkward. "
Mercato: Griezmann, the staging that goes wrong https://t.co/NatxPyeYbS via @ 20minutesSport pic.twitter.com/DHZOWIsorH
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) June 14, 2018Antoine Griezmann would be badly advised? Not as simple as that. Do not believe the world champion under the influence of his family and without a say. "It is not always easy to work with your family, but he is doing well," says Bellencontre. He is an iron fist in a velvet glove, someone who gives the impression of being rather cool, withdrawing from certain important decisions sometimes, but this is not the case. He talks and he gets people in the direction he wants. I think he remains the driver, even if it does not necessarily show. "
The problem in these more or less important failures is more in the personality of the striker of the Blues, who likes to try, surprise, test new things. The "freshness" of which our witnesses spoke, the instinctive side which is its strength and sometimes failures. "This film, I do not find it wise either, but there was nothing premeditated, says Eric Olhats. It is a real decision of Antoine, on the initiative of Pique, who for the blow had in mind everything except putting in place something that could serve the player. The fault lies with him, even if Antoine could have been more lucid. "
The importance of Erika, too
Don't count on the historical advisor to say it was better before, anyway. "Some said they did anything. I do not think so. They took a very competent lawyer [Me Sevan Karian, who did not respond to our requests], who manages contracts, clauses, etc. Since I was no longer there, he was crowned world champion, was again 3rd in the Ballon d'Or and won the Europa League. Things weren't done as badly as it could be said. "Beyond what is said in the media, his family is kind to him because he is their son and not because he may be the goose that lays the golden egg," adds Bellencontre.
It would have been unfair to finish this paper without mentioning in a little more detail the role of counselor played by his wife Erika. Met as a teenager in San Sebastian, "she is very precious," notes Ramsay. I include it in this notion of family ”. Our contacts abound: "discreet" but "fully invested", "very intelligent" and whose "opinion counts a lot for Antoine". Together, they had a second child in 2019, named Amaro. Like Antoine's grandfather… and the company created by Alain in Mâcon.
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Family is everything 💙❤ @antogriezmann La familia lo es todo 💙❤ La família ho és tot 💙❤
A post shared by FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona) on Jul 13, 2019 at 3:03 pm PDT
If all this was not enough to understand the link that unites the Griezmanns, here is one last anecdote for the road. It is signed Arnaud Ramsay:
“He was playing at Atlético at the time. He was preparing for his wedding and his mom wanted to give him some names of people to invite. He did not necessarily agree, they had explained a little and he told me that during a match, he had missed a face-to-face with the goalkeeper because he was disturbed because of it . He links his sports performances to family mood, in the broad sense. He needs it. "
"Everything that affects the family, it will make him run better or worse," says Eric Olhats, to whom we leave the conclusion: "It's not always easy with his family, but Antoine knows how to reframe when there requires. It has been said that there have been blunders. In any case, it's Antoine's choice and it's always done with love. From there, you can forgive a lot. "
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