Inter Milan have warned Arsenal and Tottenham that it will require a fee of around 80 million euros to prise forward Lautaro Martinez away from San Siro this summer.
The Argentine forward has struggled somewhat in the absence of Romelu Lukaku, who joined Chelsea in the summer of 2021, but has still registered 14 goals and 2 assists in 28 Serie A appearances this campaign, helping his side to third in Serie A. While it is a drop off from last campaign, where they ran away with the title, they remain just three points off the top this season.
And, despite apparent interest from Arsenal in Martinez last summer, it looked as though his future was resolved in October 2021, when he signed a new deal with Inter keeping him at the club until 2026.
It seems, however, that this was merely precautionary. As per Italian outlet CalcioMercato, Inter's desire to be self-sustaining means that should a suitable offer come in for Martinez, they would be keen to cash in on their forward and reinvest in other areas of the squad.
'Inter want to open a winning cycle by self-financing, no player of the squad can be considered absolutely irremovable', the report warns. This, despite the fact that the player has no intention of pushing for a move away from Italy this summer, means that Inter can largely demand whatever they want for their man, and it appears that they have set this price at 80 million euros.
Tottenham in the driving seat?
Were Arsenal and Tottenham to go head-to-head for Martinez, it is likely that there would be only one winner. Despite the potential attractiveness of Mikel Arteta's project to incoming players, it was under Antonio Conte at Inter Milan that Martinez had his most fruitful season, with 17 goals and 10 assists alongside Lukaku as he helped win the Scudetto.
Moreover, the Argentine generally prefers to operate in a two striker formation, which Tottenham now under Conte use, while Arsenal persist with a sole front man. Should Spurs be able to free up the funds, it all points to the white side of north London stealing a march on their red rivals.
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