Lautaro Martinez is heavily linked with a move to both Arsenal and their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs emerged from nowhere to move ahead of the Gunners in the race to sign the Inter Milan hitman – well, apparently.
On Sunday, The Times claimed that Tottenham had agreed a £60 million fee with the Italians to sign their red-hot South American attacker.
But Fabrizio Romano revealed on Wednesday that it would actually take £76 million – or €90 million – to prise Martinez from San Siro this summer.
And according to another journalist, Tottenham may have another advantage over Arsenal.
Tim Vickery has revealed on talkSPORT that the presence of Martinez’s Argentina teammate Giovani Lo Celso could be a deciding factor for the player.
He said: “Very, very classy striker indeed and it looks like there’s a tug of war between Arsenal and Tottenham. It could well be, especially with the existence in the side of Lo Celso, it might tip the balance in Tottenham’s way. So it could be that his presence in the Tottenham line-up just might make Lautaro Martinez feel that if he does go there he’s got someone making the bullets for him to fire.”
History
If Romano is right, this would be Tottenham’s most expensive signing in history – and Arsenal’s, in fact.
Spurs’ record signing at the moment is Tanguy Ndombele for £63 million, while Nicolas Pepe joined the Emirates Stadium club two years ago for £72 million.
But the Italian journalist seems to believe that a figure of £76 million is needed to bring in the Argentine, who helped his country to a Copa America title this summer.
The fact that neither Ndombele or Pepe have been huge hits in the Premier League illustrate that Martinez, if he does come to England, isn’t guaranteed to dazzle.
But with Tottenham potentially needing to replace Harry Kane, and Arsenal needing younger options up front, it’s a gamble both could – and should – be willing to take.
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