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Report – Arsenal open talks over deal to sign £77m South American star

By on July 27, 2021

According to the Telegraph, Arsenal have made contact with Inter Milan to express an interest in signing Lautaro Martinez as Mikel Arteta looks to bring in another striker this summer.

We’re in the middle of a busy summer at the Emirates Stadium as the club know we need an overhaul after finishing second in the last two seasons and we’ve already snapped-up Nuno Tavares and Albert Lokonga.

A new goalkeeper, right-back and playmaker have also been linked while centre-back Ben White is close to joining in a big-money move from Brighton but it appears Arteta is also in the market for another striker.

Arsenal have been strongly linked with Tammy Abraham this month but with Chelsea reportedly demanding £40m for the want-away hitman, it looks like we’re eyeing alternative targets.

The Telegraph claims that Arsenal have made a surprise approach to Inter Milan to discuss a potential deal for Martinez but it’s going to be difficult to get a deal done as the Serie A champions are reluctant to lose the South American.

Martinez played an important role in Inter’s title win last season having scored 19 goals and setting up a further 11 for his team mates so the Metro says the Italian giants have made it clear they won’t sell the 23-year-old unless their £77m valuation is met.

alexandre lacazette

It’s highly unlikely Arsenal have that kind of money sitting around so any move for Martinez already looks dead in the water. I suppose we could offer Inter Hector Bellerin as part of a player-plus-cash swap deal, however, the full-back is probably only valued at around £20m so we’d still have to come up with £57m.

Arsenal also need to offload at least one striker before bringing in a replacement and Alexandre Lacazette is reportedly on the market for around £15m. We could maybe get £15m for Eddie Nketiah as well so Arsenal may be able to raise £30m from the sale of two strikers which would go a long way to affording Martinez.

However, there is a lot of negotiating that needs to be done so we’ll have to wait and see whether we can sell Laca and Nketiah before we get too excited about signing a top class striker like Martinez. The Argentinian international would be an excellent addition but I personally don’t think anything will come of these rumours. A loan for Abraham is far more likely.