Nine seasons in, and a question with 10 days left to run
Cristian Chivu knew the question was coming. He met it head-on.
“The transfer market is always like this, rumours fly everywhere. It is nice to hear players being linked because it means they are appreciated. He is our captain, he is a top player, and we keep him because he represents what we were and what we want to become.” The Inter coach was speaking at a press conference on Friday, on the eve of the start of the Serie A season.
Lautaro Martinez is heading into his ninth season with the Nerazzurri. Nobody in Milan expected to be fighting to keep him in mid-August.
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Barca have put his name at the top of the list
Barcelona have made him their main attacking target. According to the Spanish press, the Blaugrana already have an agreement with the Argentine and are preparing to lodge an offer with Inter in the coming days. The captain’s contract runs until 2029, which gives the Italian champions real strength on price, if not on the player’s desire to go.
Chivu did not hide behind polite nonsense. He even sounded a touch resigned. “Lautaro is our captain and there is a lot of talk about him. I want to keep him and I think he will stay with us for a long time. But the transfer market is always complicated: I can tell you that we want Lautaro to stay.”
Want. A weak word when a Spanish giant turns up with a chequebook.
What Inter would really lose
The window closes on the night of September 1. Ten days. That’s not long to replace a striker who wore the armband and helped deliver the Scudetto last season, and it’s more than enough time for the whole thing to blow up.
Inter have already moved this summer, with the official arrival of Curtis Jones. A midfielder, not a forward. If Lautaro goes, the gap is huge.
Chivu ended his answer with a line that barely raised an eyebrow: “Tomorrow, we will see how he is doing.” In other words, even the manager is waiting to see how this one plays out.
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