"Whenever Griezmann is on the pitch, Barcelona play with 10 players"

An FC Barcelona legend has given his reasons on why the club should sell Griezmann in the summer transfer window.

Hristo Stoichkov has urged Barcelona to sell Antoine Griezmann to allow more deserving players a chance in the line-up and to aid the club’s rebuilding project.

The former Atletico Madrid forward has struggled to live up to expectations since his €120m arrival in 2019. He has managed 27 goals and 15 assists in 86 appearances, including six goals and assists in La Liga this season.

Since Griezmann joined Barcelona, the Catalan giants haven’t been always able to exert their usual level of performance.

An 8-2 thrashing to Bayern Munich last summer, a 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at Camp Nou in the Champions League, a 3-1 home loss to Real Madrid, and many other disappointing defeats have come.

Now Stoichkov has claimed Griezmann’s poor performances have effectively left Barcelona with one hand tied behind their backs in games.

“Whenever Griezmann is on the pitch, Barcelona play with 10 players,” the former Blaugrana forward told Sportsport.

“If they want to do something in the long term, they have to sell him. [Francisco] Trincao and [Martin] Braithwaite should be in the team, what is Griezmann doing there.”

Griezmann will hope to prove Stoichkov wrong in the club’s next league match against Huesca on Monday night.