Barcelona’s secret report on Lautaro Martínez: when they discovered it and the operation to buy it that did not work

Over time, his name became one of the most prominent forwards in the world. Just as it happened when he was wearing the Racing shirt in Argentina, Lautaro Martínez needed adaptation time on his arrival at Inter Milan. But once his scoring engine started, he became the flagship player of the Italian institution.

After four seasons at the Avellaneda club, in the last one he marked a striking growth when analyzing his scoring ability: in 28 games -including the local tournament and international competitions-, Martínez converted 18 goals and also distributed 5 assists. After having a first season of adaptation with the Nerazzurra, in the second and current one, it exploded: until the stop confirmed by the health crisis that is going through Europe and much of the world due to the coronavirus, Lautaro has already scored 16 goals in 31 presentations among all the championships.

In its great present and its promising future is the reason for Barcelona's search to obtain its services from the next season. The culé institution believes that it would be the perfect forward for the last years of Lionel Messi's career, who suggested his name after sharing time of concentration and playing field with the Argentine team.

How was this relationship between Lautaro Martínez and Barcelona that could not yet be consummated? As indicated by the Catalan newspaper Sports worldIt all started four years ago. In those days, the powerful attacker was not a starter in Racing, but if he presented himself as a footballer, he would soon make the leap to the first team. The first time that Barcelona scouts saw the 22-year-old was in the COTIF International Tournament 2016 – contest that is held every year in Alcudia, Spain, for the Sub 20 category.

At that time, and while the AFA was going through a harsh institutional crisis, the Selection reached the final of the contest with a great performance from Lautaro, who could not avoid the victory of the Spanish team in the definition. According to the report accessed by the Catalan media, Barça analyzed Martínez as “A very intuitive and determined player. Muscled and technical. A born finisher, who wins the space. A nuisance for the defenses, which bothers and is on top. A striker like Suarez ".

After seeing him live, Barcelona continued to follow the player remotely in both seasons it became a key piece for Racing. What's more, on several occasions they went to see him, covertly, at the Avellaneda Cylinder. Already in March 2018, contacts with the player's environment were closer on the part of managers of the Catalonia club, who had it in their sights to acquire it and add it to the squad as a replacement for the Uruguayan Luis Suárez.

When the moment of truth came, another important team in European football anticipated the move by Barcelona fans. The board, in charge of Josep Maria Bartomeu, thought about paying between 7 and 10 million euros for Martínez's pass, but did not count on Chinese capital Inter will pay 23 million to stay in their possession with the services of the Argentine striker.

In full adaptation and substitute of Mauro Icardi, the conflict over power dispute that was forged between the team captain and the Interista leadership, was the best thing that could have happened to Lautaro: with the 9th leg to Paris Saint Germain, the born in Bahía Blanca showed up because they gave him Inter number 10 and became the team's young leader. That was another wake-up call for the leaders of the group that Quique Setién heads today, after the dismissal of Ernesto Valverde.

After two frustrated polls to buy the Argentine soccer player in 2019, all the cannons seem to point to Barcelona taking charge for Lautaro when this season ends. But now, the story will be different. Of those 10 million euros that he was willing to put a few years ago, now he will have to pay that and 100 million more to be able to satisfy Lionel Messi.