Transfer News: Chelsea eye deal for Inter Milan star striker Lautaro Martinez
According to transfer news on Fichajes (h/t football.london), Chelsea are looking to negotiate a transfer deal for Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez.
The Argentinian star has impressed since joining the Nerazzurri in 2018. Last season, he and Romelu Lukaku led the Italian club to their first Scudetto in over a decade. All in all, he has scored 59 goals and provided 22 assists in 153 appearances for the Serie A side.
But he has now made his way into the wish-list of attackers eyed by Thomas Tuchel. The German boss is planning to recruit a centre-forward and Martinez is one of the potential names the Blues could make a move for in the coming transfer window.
However, a deal would apparently be hard to orchestrate since the striker signed a new contract recently. The 24-year-old committed his future until 2026 and his new deal also does not possess a release clause, giving Inter the opportunity to charge a high fee for his suitors.
Lautaro to partner Lukaku?
Chelsea re-signed Lukaku for a club-record deal this summer to lead the line. However, he has only managed to score 5 goals in 16 games for the club. Thus, Tuchel has not been able to get the marquee signing firing on all fronts yet.
Part of the problem could be failing to find a complementary strike-partnership. Mason Mount and Kai Havertz started the season alongside him before Timo Werner was tried out in a two-striker formation. He fared just okay under both setups but an injury ruined the good progress.
He has since returned but has only scored once in five games, although the other four were off-the-bench cameos. Thus, Martinez could be brought in to add more goals to the side and churn the best out of the Belgian. He has considerable experience of playing at the top level and is of a good age profile.
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Lautaro and Lukaku set Serie A alight in the past year or so. They clearly had good chemistry in Milan and it is safe to say the Argentine hitman would add bags of quality to our starting XI.
A good finisher, Martinez’s knowledge of playing in a top league such as Serie A, and for the Argentine national team, would mean that he has the knowledge of what it takes to succeed for big teams. Whether his potential signing, if it ever happens, means an end for Werner in our starting XI on a regular basis remains to be seen.