Manchester United Set To Compete With Barcelona In Race To Sign $116M-Worth Striker: Report

KEY POINTS

Man Utd to compete Barca to sign Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez
Inter have labeled Martinez with a transfer fee of $116m
Martinez has scored 16 goals this season

Manchester United reportedly are back in contention in the race to sign Inter Milan’s talented striker, Lautaro Martinez.

Martinez has been one of FC Barcelona’s top targets ahead of the summer transfer window alongside Neymar, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and has made it clear that he wants to return to Nou Camp.

Barcelona have been pondering over Martinez’s transfer because of his high transfer fee of $116 million, which the Catalans cannot afford owning to the financial impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

While the Spanish giants are reluctant about the transfer despite pressure from skipper Lionel Messi, who wants his fellow Argentinean to join his club, the Sport has reported that Man Utd have revived their interest to sign Martinez.

Before the 2019-20 season was halted by the deadly virus, Martinez scored 11 in Serie A and overall, he netted 16 goals across competitions and was only behind Romelu Lukaku (23 goals) in the Italian club’s goalscorers’ chart.

The Old Trafford side is willing to loosen their pockets despite having options in Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood for the striker’s position, while they also have Odion Ighalo, who is on loan from Shanghai Shenhua.

One of the reasons Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to strengthen his scoring set is that the Red Devils have scored 44 goals in the Premier League this season, 22 fewer than leaders and arch-rivals, Liverpool FC.

Odion Ighalo has joined Manchester United from China's Shanghai Shenhua on loan(R) rounds Watford's English goalkeeper Ben Foster (L) during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Watford at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on February 23, 2020. AFP / Paul ELLIS

Martinez, whose current Inter Milan contract is until the summer of 2023, started his career at Racing Club in 2015 before moving to Italy in 2018. Ever since he has joined Inter Milan, the Argentine has improved massively and now has big European clubs battling each other to sign him.

The 22-year-old also has a pretty notable record for his national team, having scored nine goals in 17 appearances. He has managed to earn attention despite playing alongside legendary Messi for Argentina.

Earlier, former Argentina star Javier Saviola warned Martinez against joining Barcelona saying it won’t be easy to play alongside Messi on the club level.

“Honestly for me he is a player who can come in handy for Barcelona. We know what it means to be next to [Luis] Suarez, Messi and other great players. I am not saying that it is easy to play with them. Dybala said it was difficult with Messi and I supported him because it requires a high level of concentration, to be at his pace. It seems easy but it is not,” Saviola, who also played for Barcelona, told Goal in an Instagram chat.