How Arsenal could sign Lautaro Martinez this summer

Updated: 2 Aug 2021 14:01 BST
4 min read

Does a Lautaro Martinez move to Real Madrid make sense? — © ProShots

Arsenal have already spent big in the summer transfer window with the signing of Ben White for a reported £50 million, but they're seemingly not finished yet.

The club have been heavily linked with a move for Inter striker Lautaro Martinez and according to Tuttosport, the London club are now set to rival Atletico Madrid for the Argentina striker's signature.

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Lautaro has quickly developed into one of Europe's top players and, due to Inter's current financial difficulties, the player could end up leaving the Serie A giants for the right price.

It remains to be seen just how intent Ateltico are on making a move for the player but if Arsenal want to sign Lautaro in the coming weeks or months ahead they'll surely have to do a few things first to ensure a deal can go through.

Sell players to raise extra funds

Although Inter are in a spot of trouble with their finances, the club would still expect a respectable offer for Lautaro that represents his real value. And according to FootballTransfers, that currently stands at €68.7 million.

In order to afford a transfer fee of that size, Arsenal would likely have to sell a number of fringe players. And fortunately for Mikel Arteta, he’s got a lot of fat that could be cut from this team.

© ProShots - Arteta may need to sell a number of squad players to sign Lautaro

In defence, Arsenal could surely raise around €30m from the sale of Cedric Soares, Saed Kolasinac and Calum Chambers or Pablo Mari. And while his move to Roma seems to have been called off, the club could still expect to earn at least €25m from selling Granit Xhaka too.

Perhaps the most obvious player that could be moved on if Arsenal are signing a new striker is Alexandre Lacazette. Although the French striker is now 30, Lacazette has still attracted interest from France and Spain and could easily be sold for at least €30m.

All in all, that’s no less than €85m for Arsenal to play around with, without really losing any key players that they would plan to or already have replaced in this window.

Offer Bellerin in the negotiations

If Arsenal are a little less keen on clearing house and moving on too many players, they could still use a notable star in their squad to lower the fee needed to sign Lautaro.

According to reports in England, Hector Bellerin is keen on leaving the club this summer and one of the sides that are most interested in signing him are none other than Inter.

The Spanish defender is currently valued at €22.7m and if he agreed to move to Italy as part of the deal, Arsenal could get a serious discount on the Argentine striker this summer.