Any hopes Liverpool fans had of seeing a bonafide attacking superstar arrive at Anfield this summer may be over before they begin.
If the dethroned Premier League champions can’t afford Jadon Sancho, they certainly won’t be signing Kylian Mbappe, even though the World Cup winner has yet to sign a contract extension at a stuttering Paris Saint-Germain.
And while Lautaro Martinez was also linked with a move to Anfield earlier this week, via 90Min, all signs suggest the Argentina international won’t be posing for photographs in front of the Kop, arm in arm with Michael Edwards any time soon.
“We are working with the club, my agent talks with the bosses. The agreement will be found,” the £70 million-rated Lautaro tells Libero, via FC Inter News, confirming negotiations over a new contract are under way.
“I am calm. I am happy to be here too, to be part of this project. If I sign a contract, I respect it.”
Martinez’s agent, Alejandro Camano, struck a similar tone when asked about his client’s future.
“The boy is happy in Milan. He has just won the league as a protagonist,” Camano tells Gazzetta dello Sport of the newly crowned Serie A champion.
“I am not talking to any club. Lautaro is a Nerazzurri player and he still has a two-year contract. Inter is still the priority.”
Of course, with Inter stuck in a perilous financial situation and under severe pressure to raise funds or risk disaster, it can’t be completely ruled out, at this stage, Lautaro won’t be sacrificed for the greater good.
A penalty-box poacher labelled the “new Sergio Aguero” by Hernan Crespo is undoubtedly one of Inter’s most sellable assets after all.
Unless anything dramatic happens, however, Liverpool supporters shouldn’t get their hopes up.
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