Barcelona director Eric Abidal has admitted that the Catalan club are interested in in-form Argentine international Lautaro Martinez.
In an interview with Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona director of football Eric Abidal has revealed that the La Liga champions are following the progress of Lautaro Martinez. The Inter Milan striker has been heavily linked with a move to the Catalan club.
Lautaro Martinez is a player who has been on the radars of some of the best clubs in Europe ever since his days with Racing Club. Now, in his second season with Inter Milan, the player is finally starting to become a prolific striker and the interest in him has only soared.
Despite the presence of Romelu Lukaku at San Siro, the Argentine international has managed to carve out a place for himself and in 16 appearances across all competitions, he has a solid return of 8 goals and 3 assists. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that a club like Barcelona have their sights set on him.
Barcelona, in fact, hold a long-standing interest in Martinez, having also been linked with him back in the summer transfer window. Eventually, the Blaugrana signed Antoine Griezmann to bolster their attack, although the Frenchman is yet to be utilised much through the middle.
With Luis Suarez on the wrong side of 30 and showing signs of regression, Barcelona do have the need to identify the Uruguayan striker’s successor soon. To that end, Argentine international Martinez is a viable target for the Catalan giants. And, Barcelona’s director of football Eric Abidal has now confirmed the club’s interest in the 22-year-old.
“Yes, he [Martinez] is a complete player. I think he is performing at a great level. He is a player we know, there are other players who also have a lot of quality. I know Barca, I know what adaptation is like, but I don’t pay much attention to the player who plays every weekend, I look at others.”
Capable of linking up well with the midfielders as well as be a poacher inside the box, Martinez has all the characteristics to succeed Suarez at Barcelona. In their 2-1 win over Inter Milan last month in the Champions League, Barcelona also had the chance to have a closer look at Martinez, who scored the only goal for the Nerazzurri.
With Abidal confirming that the reigning La Liga champions are indeed monitoring the in-form Argentine, a future move could well be on the cards, and it now remains to be seen if Barcelona make a concrete move for the player in a future transfer window.
