Arsenal suffer fatal Lautaro Martinez transfer blow

Chelsea Signing Romelu Lukaku Kills Arsenal’s Lautaro Martinez Hopes

When news first broke of Arsenal making contact with Inter over Lautaro, the position of the Italian club was that they were willing to lose the Argentinian so long as they could hold onto Romelu Lukaku.

Inter need to trim their wage bill by 20% and are seeking to balance the books, which was the reasoning behind Antonio Conte’s sudden departure. Achraf Hakimi has even been sold for a deal around £60m.

Lukaku was seen as indispensable, though. Their prized asset was set to stay and if selling Lautaro, which the club were willing to do so long as their valuation was met, had to be done to ensure that then so be it.

But money talks.

Chelsea are only a centre-forward away from being near perfect in Thomas Tuchel’s eyes. They apparently won some trophy last season which apparently demonstrates how good they are, and with cash to splash they sounded out re-signing Lukaku. With a couple of bids turned down already and the Belgian not pushing for a move, that has changed with The Telegraph reporting that Lukaku now happy to return to the club who sold him for £28m seven years ago.

Due to that, as soon as Chelsea meet Inter’s £100m valuation, which they are fully expected to do, he will become a Premier League player once again.

This transfer window is exploding but the Lautaro fire can be put out. They only needed to sell one more player and while the Argentine was their preference, the incoming Chelsea offer is one they can’t refuse. The odds of losing their two best players seems unfathomable.

Time for Arsenal to move on from this ambitious and always tricky transfer.

What about Tammy Abraham? Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Aston Villa use some of their Jack Grealish money…