Chelsea transfer news: Antoine Griezmann denies he plays as club on Football Manager

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Antoine Griezmann has been forced to deny one of the more spurious stories regarding his future after he was spotted looking at Chelsea on the computer game Football Manager.

The Atletico Madrid striker, who is currently on international duty at the European Championship with France, was caught browsing through the club’s squad list in a video on the French national team’s YouTube channel.

Griezmann’s name has been consistently linked with Stamford Bridge over the past year and Antonio Conte, who will take over as Chelsea’s new manager this summer, is believed to be keen on signing a ‘marquee’ player.

However, it appears that the 25-year-old striker’s choice of club in a virtual reality bears little relation to where he may or may not play his football next season.

“People talk a lot about me and Chelsea,” he said in a new video on France’s YouTube channel. “So I want to say, my team [on Football Manager] is Olympique Lyonnais.”

Griezmann then went on to ask for viewers at home whether they had any good suggestions for signing to play in a no 10 role.

Prior to Euro 2016, many pundits tipped Griezmann to be one of the tournament's stand-out players.

Griezmann endured a difficult start in France's opening match against Romania at the Stade de France, when he put in a jaded and below-par display.

Didier Deschamps, the France coach, subsequently dropped him for the next game against Albania in Marseille, only to bring him off the bench with the score at 0-0 in the second half.

Griezmann subsequently broke the deadlock and Albania's resolve with a instinctive header in the 90th minute, before Dimitri Payet rounded off the win just before full time.