Barcelona, Inter Reportedly Close To Reaching Lautaro Martínez Deal; New Names Mentioned

Barcelona and Inter Milan are reportedly close to reaching a deal for Lautaro Martínez and two new names could be involved in the swap.

In the past few weeks, Martínez and Neymar have been the main subjects in the buzz about Barcelona. The Catalan club has been openly interested in signing the Inter Milan striker while the PSG star has been open for a possible reunion with Lionel Messi at Camp Nou. But between the two, latest reports claim that Inter and Barcelona could finally seal the deal for Martinez.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Besoccer.com), Inter doesn’t have the capability to match Barcelona’s for Martínez. The LaLiga giants’ standing offer of €10 million ($10.7 million) per season offer to convince the Argentine striker is reportedly impossible to compete with.

With Martínez having mutual interest in joining Barcelona and Inter not being able to match the sum, reports claim that the said clubs have nothing left to do but to close a deal. However, it is also said that Inter are standing firm on the more than €100 million ($107 million) release clause for Martínez .

While Martínez ‘s price tag seems to be a bit of a challenge for Barcelona, a new report from Sport (via Barca Blaugranes) states that the Catalans could leverage the deal by sending two of their players to Inter.

Reports claimed that Inter is going all in on right-backs in exchange for Martinez The Serie A giants are asking for a hefty €111 million ($119 million) fee for Martínez but reportedly would be willing to reduce the amount for a right-back from Barca. Two names being mentioned in the possible deal at this point are Nélson Semedo and Emerson.

Inter’s former president Massimo Moratti, who previously stated that the club would let go of Martínez if the replacement will be Messi, now has a different take about the matter. In a statement collected by AS (via Besoccer.com), Moratti said that he thinks it will be hard to keep Martínez away from the deal if the mutual interests are real.

"I think it would be good if Inter could hold on to Lautaro because he has great potential and there is a great curiosity to see how he will develop and what he will become. He has a great talent, but I don't know how easy it will be to keep him if the interest of the big clubs is true," Moratti predicted.