The curious case of the Argentine 'crack' who almost signed for Barça, Atlético and Real Madrid

The case of Lautaro Martínez is one of the most curious in terms of market movements in LaLiga during the last decade. The Argentine striker, a star of Inter Milan since 2018, was very close to landing in Spain on up to three occasions between 2014 and 2020, but various factors convinced him to stay in Italy.

The 'Toro' contemplated the possibility of moving to Barcelona in the middle of the pandemic, when the culés were looking for a replacement for Luis Suárez. However, the culés' financial problems prevented a transfer that would have been around 100 million euros, an unattainable figure for a Barça already in serious trouble with 'Fair Play' at that time.

"I was really close, I had even talked about it with Leo Messi. But they had financial problems and I decided to stay," Martínez explained in an interview for the 'ESPN' Argentina network. The Bahía Blanca native was able to score in both of his visits to the Spotify Camp Nou (2019 and 2022), although in both games he failed to secure victory.

In the 2019/20 group stage, Lautaro made it 0-1 against Ernesto Valverde's men, but a double from 'Lucho' Suárez allowed the Catalans to turn the game around (2-1). Three years later, in 2022/23, the 'Toro' scored again against the Blaugrana team in a vibrant match that ended 3-3, a result that left Xavi Hernández's men on the brink of elimination.

Real Madrid and Atlético also had Lautaro in their sights

Before his failed move to Barça, Martínez was also in the orbit of Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. The 'colchoneros' were the closest to closing his transfer in 2018. The agreement between 'Aleti' and the striker was closed for six seasons, until June 2024, but Inter put more money on the table and ended up signing him at the last minute for 25 million euros.

For its part, Madrid tried to sign him much earlier, in 2014, when the attacker was taking his first steps at Racing de Avellaneda. According to Lautaro, Santiago Solari prioritized his signing for Castilla, but the Argentine 'crack' rejected the offer, believing that he was still too young to make the leap to the European elite.

"At that time I didn't feel like going too far. They came looking for me and offered me a contract, but I didn't feel ready," explained the Bahía Blanca native. Finally, Martínez managed to establish himself in the European elite with the 'nerazzurri' team, with which he already has five official titles (2 Serie A, 2 Italian Cups and 3 Super Cups), in addition to 135 goals in 297 official matches.