Real Sociedad coach Eric Olhats has revealed how he managed to snap up youngster Antoine Griezmann from under the noses of France's biggest clubs.

Griezmann is now a target for Manchester United and Liverpool and Olhats says: "Almost all the French coaches loved his technical quality, but were looking for a young player capable of almost immediately joining their reserve teams.

"But Antoine was not yet sufficiently developed.

"However, he received three contract proposals from Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Auxerre. The proposed conditions were very interesting, but the clubs wanted him to do another year in Montpellier before considering signing.

"In our case, we wanted him immediately."