Barcelona has commenced talking with Inter Milan on the Spanish giants' bid to sign Lautaro Martinez this summer. To sweeten the deal for the Italian side, Camp Nou is reportedly offering a swap deal that will see players from Catalan heading to the San Siro.
The names submitted for Inter's consideration were identified as Nelson Semedo and Carles Alena, and Barca hopes that the young talents will make for a suitable exchange to the 23-year-old striker that the Catalans have been targeting.
At the same time, the proposed player exchange is seen as Barcelona's way of reducing the transfer fee required for the San Siro side to thump up Lautaro's move, The Daily Mail reported.
It is understood that the Inter hierarchy is open to the Barca offer but the Italians are hoping to get Arthur instead. The midfielder, however, has been tagged by the Spanish side as hands-off for any business deal.
Barcelona has been working to lure the Argentine out of Italy, where he has displayed remarkable performance with Inter. The young attacker has appeared in 66 games so far and already cleared 66 goals.
Barca captain Lionel Messi has expressed excitement to play with his teammate in Argentina while supporters in Camp Nou deem the goalscorer as the likely replacement to Luis Suarez.
But Lautaro exiting too soon from Italy is not an advisable move, according to Hernan Crespo, who like the Inter ace also played for Inter Milan. The Argentine legend said Lautaro's career will be better served staying where he is right now.
As one of the rising strikers in Europe, big clubs are closely monitoring Lautaro, and according to Metro the player also attracted attention from Premier League. So apart from Barcelona, he could soon get an offer from and English club, which the report identified as Chelsea.
Crespo, however, cautioned his compatriot that a summer move is not the right time given he is just in his second season with Inter. Coming from Argentina, Lautaro played backup for the club in his first year but quickly earned a spot in the first-team at the start of the 2019-20 season.
He might be flourishing now as shown by his 19 goals in the suspended campaign but Crespo said moving out too soon might prove counterproductive for the young striker.
"I tell him that he should stay at Inter, without a doubt ... He needs at least three years to complete his growth, then he can think about changing teams," the Argentine hero was reported as saying.
Indeed, Lautaro has a good reason to stay with Inter as he has forged a productive partnership with Romelu Lukaku. The promise though of working with Messi in Barcelona might prove a strong pull that the youngster could not resist.
