Mario Kempes advises £102m-rated striker to join Barcelona - originally posted on Sportslens.com
Argentine legend Mario Kempes believes Lautaro Martinez should consider the prospect of joining Barcelona from Inter Milan during the summer transfer window.
Martinez has been with the Nerazzurri since the summer of 2018 and he has contributed 25 goals and five assists over the past one-and-a-half seasons with the club.
Out of that, 17 goals and four assists have come during the current campaign and his progress has caught the eye of the Blaugrana, who are eyeing a long-term replacement for Luis Suarez.
The representative of Martinez has already said that the striker has a ‘very big chance‘ of signing for the Blaugrana and Kempes feels it would be ‘fantastic’ for the forward to play alongside Lionel Messi.
“For a couple of years now Lautaro has shown himself to be a top number nine at Inter and for Argentine,” Kempes told Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb.
“I believe that the train only passes once and, beyond the fact that Inter is a great team recognised worldwide, Barça is totally different, playing alongside Messi would be fantastic.”
“If he stays with Inter, it could be a good thing to continue gaining experience, however, if he wants to go to Barcelona and Inter is willing to let him leave for a good figure…”
Messi and Suarez have publicly said that they would prefer the Argentine making the move to the Camp Nou and the latter has admitted that the 22-year-old could replace him as the main striker when he leaves the club.
However, Suarez has experienced a number of knee injury concerns over the past 18 months and there could be a rotation policy next term where he shares his playing time upfront with Martinez or any other striker signed.
Martinez currently has a release clause worth £102m on his contract with the Nerazzurri and the Catalan giants will need to trigger the condition in order to land his signature.
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