Luis Suarez Asks Lionel Messi's Top Target To Ignore Barca Links And Stay At Inter Milan: Report

Former Barcelona and Inter Milan attacking midfielder Luis Suarez has reportedly asked Catalans’ top target, Lautaro Martinez, to ignore Barcelona transfer links.

It has been reported several times in the last few months that Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi has urged the club to make two crucial signings: bring back Neymar to Nou Camp and sign Inter Milan’s Martinez.

Martinez, who is a fellow Argentinean, has impressed Messi while the two played together for the national side. The 22-year-old forward joined Inter Milan from Racing Club in the summer of 2018 and has been pretty impressive with his performances this season. In 22 Serie A appearances in 2019-20 season, Martinez has netted 11 goals and overall, he has found the back of the net 16 times in as many as 31 matches across all competitions this campaign in the Inter jersey.

The young forward made his international debut in 2018 and has already scored nine goals in a total of 17 matches for Argentina.

In very little time at Inter Milan, Martinez has amazed everyone by netting over 50 goals and has attracted interest from top European clubs including La Liga rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid. While both the clubs are keeping a tab on Martinez’s transfer updates, Barcelona are eyeing the South American player as a long-term replacement for Luis Suarez, who recently turned 33.

However, Barcelona’s former player Suarez, the 1960 Ballon d'Or winner who moved from Barca to Inter in 1961, has insisted that Martinez must continue in Serie A and not move to the La Liga side.

"If I were him, I wouldn't change teams. Making a decision on whether to stay or not is very complicated, although if Messi called him then it would be easy to think about it. However, we're talking about a boy who is still very young, and he has all the time in the world to go for other challenges in the future."

"Let's say the truth, he would have less prominence in Spain than he does at Inter. I want to give [Lautaro] some advice – stay where you are,” the 85-year-old former midfielder told La Gazzetta dello Sport, as per Mirror.