Antoine Griezmann will be allowed to leave Atlético Madrid if the right opportunity comes along for the France forward, according to head coach Diego Simeone.

Simeone said he would not stand in the way of any of his players if they wanted to leave to develop their careers, and that could open the door for the 26-year-old – who has reportedly been on the radar of clubs including Manchester United, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in recent seasons – to leave either in January or next summer.

“Of course he can leave at some point, like Diego Costa and Arda Turan did in their day,” Simeone told L'Equipe.

“I love watching my players grow, and if one of them tells me that they have the unique opportunity of playing for a certain team, after they did everything they could for me, like Griezmann has done, I'll say it's not a problem. I know that he needs to grow.”

A world-record move to United was heavily mooted in the summer but Griezmann said it would be a “dirty move” to leave Atlético then, shortly after a transfer ban was upheld against the La Liga club.

That transfer ban will be lifted in winter transfer window in January, but it is now being widely reported that Griezmann will make the switch to Spanish rivals Barcelona and not Manchester United as initally thought.