What Man Utd have to do to sign Lautaro Martinez
FT Desk
- 22 Oct 2022 12:40 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United will first have to complete one key objective if they are to have any hope of landing star striker Lautaro Martinez.
The 25-year-old Argentina and Inter star has emerged on United's radar in recent weeks.
Manager Erik ten Hag has had to do without a traditional centre-forward at the start of his tenure, with Cristiano Ronaldo barely featuring so far under the Dutchman amid widespread reports he wants out of the club.
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While fellow top-four challengers Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham have leaned heavily on goals from Gabriel Jesus, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane respectively United's top scorer so far in the Premier League is Marcus Rashford, who has netted just three times despite impressing in the Red Devils' strikeforce.
Martinez, meanwhile, is coming off a 25-goal season, a career-best, with Inter and his creativity and willingness to link up with the rest of the team will also be of great interest to Ten Hag as he looks to build a more dynamic unit at Old Trafford.
Champions League is key
But to secure the Argentine, a strong 2022-23 season is vital.
Something to consider is that - from conversations I've had about Martinez in the past year - if he's going to leave Inter, he wants a club that's playing Champions League football," transfer expert Dean Jones explained to GiveMeSport.
"At the moment, we don't even know if Manchester United are going to have that."
As well as United Martinez has also been linked closely with Paris Saint-Germain, whom according to reports were bowled over by his virtuoso performance during Inter's thrilling 3-3 draw with Barcelona earlier in October.
The Bahia Blanca native has been at San Siro since 2018, when he signed from Racing Club, and boasts 79 goals in 194 appearances in all competitions for Inter.
