Inter Milan look to renew Barcelona target Lautaro Martinez’s contract.

Inter Milan are planning to offer a new contract to striker Lautaro Martinez in order to keep away prying eyes, in particular, Barcelona. The Catalans tried to sign the Argentine striker as a replacement for Luis Suarez who was made redundant by the new manager, Ronald Koeman. Martinez was the number one option for the Spanish giants but due to the financial crisis caused by the pandemic and lack of silverware last season, they were unable to pick up the striker.

The 23-year-old is in his third year with the Italian side and was on the verge of leaving the club last as he publicly stated that he would like to join the Blaugrana. His main reason was to join his idol and national team teammate, Lionel Messi. Messi is also a big fan of the player and praised him a lot and publicly stated that he would like to see Martinez in Camp Nou.

The deal was going to go through as both the player and the club was interested in the transfer and Inter Milan could not have intervened if Barca paid the release clause. However, in a weird twist, the Catalans only offered to pay less than 15 million euros for the star. This was unacceptable by the Italian giants and they pulled out of negotiations immediately.

They have now decided to offer a new contract to Martinez which will remove his release clause of 111 million euros as this means that big teams will now not be able to just pay the fee and buy him. Barca are regretting not being able to buy the player who was willing to move. They were also unable to sign Memphis Depay. We’ll have to wait and see whom they sign next year after making adjustments in their budget.