By Tim Stannard

Griezmann faces Ukraine in France friendly as Didier Deschamps blames Barcelona for woes of misfiring forward

For Barcelona fans, Antoine Griezmann remains the $140 million misfit. 

Griezmann is the underwhelming Frenchman who thinks he's a Uruguayan, and mistakenly believes he can find a place in the forward line of the Camp Nou club. 

Unfortunately, life under Ronald Koeman remains the same for Griezmann as his previous two coaches at Camp Nou. He's the sixth most expensive soccer signing in history but a very pricey square peg in Barcelona's round hole. 

Although the French forward has started all three matches for Barcelona in LaLiga this season, each appearance has ended the same - with a substitution and critics continuing to suggest that Griezmann simply isn't going to cut it at Barca. 

Sunday's draw at Sevilla even saw a public poke from Koeman suggesting that he missed two chances that should have been put away, to give Barcelona the victory against a title rival. 

However, Griezmann is now in a safe place, at a team where the forward is appreciated, where the footballer is a World Cup winner with a coach who has the player's back. This manager, Didier Deschamps, has even hinted at Griezmann's mood at Barcelona these days - "I'm talking to him and I'll see him later. I am sure he is not happy with this situation." 

Deschamps also got to the heart of the problem for Griezmann at Barcelona. The team's tactical set-up simply isn't suited to Griezmann's particular set of skills, especially when the forward who once scored 44 LaLiga goals at Atletico Madrid in two seasons is forced to play out wide. 

"He doesn't have the ability to take the ball and beat opponents on the wing like others. He needs to touch the ball a lot and he is smart in his movement."

Griezmann will be back in action on Wednesday in a friendly against Ukraine. In the last international break, the player grabbed a goal and an assist to beat Croatia in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final. 

But it's yet another chance - if one should be needed - to prove to Barcelona fans that Griezmann is not the problem at the club, but it's the system instead. 

The Sports Burst live show will talk Griezmann, power rankings and everything else at 12PM ET. Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page and XTRA channel. 

Everyone unhappy at Depay's non-move to Barcelona

The fallout from the non-Memphis Depay move from Lyon to Barcelona continues to drift through the soccer nano-sphere. 

It seems that nobody is happy that a deal could not be struck between OL and the Camp Nou outfit. There's Depay himself who misses out on the chance to run out alongside Lionel Messi. Ronald Koeman is definitely not best pleased. 

Now, the Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has spoken out to say that the lack of a deal is a financial headache for his club due to the player being out of contract next summer and available for free. "We'll try everything we can to renew him, with some big offers. Economically, this is not the best situation."

Perhaps the most important person in Barcelona who needs to be kept happy - but definitely won't be - is Lionel Messi who will now see the famous number nine jersey on the back of Martin Braithwaite when players such as Luis Suarez, Alexis Sanchez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Romario have worn it in the past. 

Sports Burst isn't passing judgement here. Well, it is really. 

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi himself is one of hundreds of players traveling around the world in the middle of a global pandemic to play a series of international matches. 

But that's a whole different story that is going to get an awful lot bigger this week.