Why Arsenal could finally sign €70m Lautaro Martinez
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 30 Mar 2022 22:07 BST
- 3 min read
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
That has been Arsenal’s approach to the Serie A transfer market in recent seasons as they have failed on countless occasions to complete the signing of top targets.
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The most recent, of course, was in January when they were beaten by Juventus to the €80 million capture of Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina.
Arsenal failed to bring in midfielder Arthur Melo in January from Juventus, who also beat the Gunners to the signature of Manuel Locatelli from Sassuolo at the start of the campaign.
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Another failed Serie A capture last summer was Inter attacker Lautaro Martinez. The Nerazzurri opted against selling the Argentine after sacrificing star man Romelu Lukaku for €115m to Chelsea.
According to multiple sources in England and Italy, Arsenal are now back in for Lautaro as they aim to strengthen a forward line that needs at least two new signings.
And this summer, Arsenal’s run of bad luck with Serie A targets may finally end.
The first reason for this is because, unlike last summer, Lautaro should actually be available.
Inter’s owners Suning, who had to make over €200m worth of sales to balance the books last summer, will again have to make sacrifices at the end of this campaign. This is as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic really hitting the finances of the Chinese owners.
It is expected that the Nerazzurri will sell two first-team players, in addition to a bunch of squad members. The first-teamers most likely to be sold are Lautaro and Stefan de Vrij.
De Vrij will be sold because he turns 30 this year, his contract expires next season and he wants to move to the Premier League. A transfer to Tottenham looks like it is on the cards so he can reunite with former manager Antonio Conte.
The club is listening to offers for Lautaro because they believe they can make €70m on his sale, which will also be used to strengthen the overall team and squad.
Inter wish to use the money to buy Torino centre back Bremer and Sassuolo centre forward Gianluca Scamacca and thus renew a slightly ageing team.
Unlike a year or two ago, when Barcelona were heavily interested in Lautaro, there is less demand for the attacker now.
Neither Barca or Real Madrid will be in for him this time, although Atletico Madrid are admirers and could move for the attacker. Bayern Munich have no desire at this stage, either.
PSG could be a threat but, in the Premier League, only Tottenham appear ready to rival Arsenal for Lautaro’s signature.
The presence of Conte could help Tottenham but the fact Arsenal are likely to qualify for the Champions League ahead of their north London cousins could be decisive.
Either way, providing they can convince Lautaro of their project, Arsenal will never get a better chance to make this deal happen.
