Barcelona boss Quique Setién has the desire to get rid of several players of his squad, including the high profile members like Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembélé, Luis Suarez. At the same time, the future of Coutinho hangs in the balance. It is needless to say that if so many forwards are cleared out in one season, then Setién would need reinforcements.
Lautaro Martínez, in that regard, has been linked to the Catalan club and so far it seems that the Inter Milan man is a frontrunner to play alongside Messi, even at club level, next season. Now reports arrive from Spain, where newspaper Sport (quoted by Calciomercato), states that Inter Milan are looking for around €60 million, along with two players, one of whom is the Brazilian Arthur Melo.
This would be massive news for the Catalan club as Martínez is a player they have wanted for a long time now and each time the deal had stumbled because of the finances involved. However, as suggested by the same report, now the current offer from Inter Milan could be a breakthrough as €60 million and two players take the deal to nearly €111 million, a figure that Inter believe that the Argentine forward should fetch.
Martinez is an out and out centre forward who has enjoyed a fair amount of success in Italy. Joining Inter in 2018, Martinez has so far scored 17 league goals for the Italian club. Although he took some time to get adjusted to the league in his first season, Martinez displayed his skill and agility in his second season at the club, when he scored 11 league goals from 22 appearances.
The additional advantage that Lautaro Martinez would enjoy at Barcelona would be his nationality. Being an Argentine, Martinez would certainly require lesser time to get adjusted to a system that revolves around Lionel Messi and Setién would hope that this works in his favour.
Barcelona have an ageing Luis Suarez who would eventually have to make room for younger players. The club are already trying to bring in Neymar back from PSG, and that may help their cause in trying to regain their supremacy. However, with Suarez gone, they would still need a centre forward, and that is where Martinez would come in.
We have already seen the lethal partnership of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, MSN to be precise, sparking terror in the minds of the opposition. Probably, it is time for the Spanish giants to don a new era with MLN, Messi, Lautaro and Neymar at the heart of it all.
