Arsenal are lining up a move for the Argentine starlet, Lautaro Martínez. According to recent reports, the Gunners have been monitoring the progress of the 20-year-old but face increasing competition from Athletico Madrid. The Spanish club has already opened the bidding but had their £11.25m rejected by Racing Club de Avellaneda. Arsene Wenger’ Arsenal are among a whole host of clubs lining up to secure the Argentine’s services. Martinez has caught the eye and has surrounded himself with growing interest ever since he broke into Racing Club de Avellaneda’s first team in 2015.
However, it appears that Diego Simeone’s Athletico Madrid got ahead of Arsenal in the race for his signature with the hope of securing a deal in January. It was even claimed by some sources that the Spanish club had held off competition from Arsenal, AS Monaco and Real Madrid to agree on a £10.75m deal with the Argentine club. Now the president of Racing Club de Avellaneda, Victo Blanco has squashed all speculation linking their star forward to a possible January transfer and addressed his future in a recent interview with Fox Sports Radio Sur.
He said: “We received an offer from Atletico of €12.75m, plus a 10 percent surplus value of a future sale, for Lautaro Martinez but Racing turned it down. We want to get together on Monday or Tuesday with Lautaro’s agent to discuss this and make a definite decision. I spoke with him and I can guarantee that Lautaro is going to continue with us until June.”
Lautaro Martínez has made 5 appearances for Racing Club de Avellaneda this season and has scored 3 goals and made one assist in the process. The 20-year-old also has 11 international caps to his name while representing Argentina at the Under-20 level, where he scored 7 goals. He is undoubtedly a young South American striker with bags of potential. It is no wonder that the Gunners face stiff competition from clubs all across Europe in the hunt for his signature.
Arsenal is known for developing young players in their academy and giving them a chance in the first-team as evidenced by the emergence of Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin as regular starters for the Gunners. It would be a great addition if they manage to lure Martinez into joining them in North London but whether a move can take place in January remains to be seen with his parent club refusing to let him go.
However, in football, money talks and things change quickly. It is now to be seen how matters develop regarding the much-anticipated move.
