Atlético Madrid has a transfer ban, so Antoine Griezmann probably isn’t going to Manchester United

Much to the club’s dismay, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the transfer ban handed down to Atlético Madrid by FIFA. The Rojiblancos will be prohibited from registering new players until January 2018.

This is obviously bad news for the club, but also for Manchester United and Antoine Griezmann. The Atléti forward was expected to make a move to Old Trafford this summer, but United reportedly ended their interest in signing him.

These two events are probably linked. While Atléti might have let Griezmann go without a fight -- and for less than his release clause fee -- before the ban, they’re now unlikely to let anyone leave. United might have liked the idea of signing Griezmann for £60 million or so, but they’re probably less thrilled with the prospect of investing £86 million in a transfer fee for him.

United has the money to pay the fee for any player, but financial fair play limits their spending somewhat, so there’s opportunity cost to factor into any big purchase. United wants to have the flexibility to move quickly to sign a superstar like Gareth Bale or Neymar if they become available.

There are also a lot of potential variables when it comes to signing those two players, or anyone else of their caliber. If United fails in their pursuit of bigger stars, Griezmann will still be at Atléti with the same release clause in two months. If it turns out their best option is to just pay whatever it takes to get Griezmann, they can do that later.

Jeromy Ebobbise’s stunner for USMNT Under-20s. (r/soccer)

Benfica have announced the sale of goalkeeper Ederson to Manchester City. (Guardian)

Ajax has re-signed Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. (@AFCAjax)

Roberto Mancini is the new Zenit St. Petersburg manager. (@FCZenit_en)

Theo Hernandez didn’t show up for Spain U-21 duty and his coach doesn’t know why. (Sport)

Roma defender Antonio Rüdiger says “racism is a serious issue” in Italy and that racist incidents “simply happen too often in this country.” (Football Italia)

Gavin Cleaver on Watford and the weirdness of being a middle of the pack Premier League team. (The Set Pieces)

Wayne Girard on Fabrizio Miccoli and his mafia ties. (The Gentlemen Ultra)

Kaustubh Pandey on what makes Antonio Valencia great. (In Bed With Maradona)

Manchester City is willing to spend big to beat their rivals to Virgil Van Dijk. (The Times)

Manchester United and Tottenham are battling it out over Ryan Sessegnon. (Mirror)

Tiemoue Bakayoko looks close to a Chelsea move. (Independent)

PSG looks set to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. (Yahoo)

The fee would be outrageous for a 30-year-old, but Real Madrid might go after Leonardo Bonucci. (Marca)

AC Milan might snag Lucas Biglia from Lazio. (Football Italia)

And Inter is close to signing Luiz Gustavo. (Gazzetta)

The baby USMNT beat New Zealand to advance to the quarterfinals of the Under-20 World Cup. (Stars and Stripes FC)

Highlights of Wednesday night’s MLS games are here. (MLS)

Mexico vs. Republic of Ireland (10 p.m. ET) -- It’s just a warm-up game, and Mexico didn’t take their last one against Croatia seriously. But it’s still a Mexico A-team match.