Arsenal suffer fatal Lautaro Martinez transfer blow

This transfer window has coughed up some exceptional player links. Despite having no European football, supposedly no money, a hopeless manager and a misguided recruitment team, Arsenal have apparently been keeping an eye on 95% of footballers in Europe.

The rumour mill is the gift that keeps on giving. Some of the speculation, which seemed nothing short of nonsensical, has actually turned out not to be total fabrication. Lautaro Martinez was one such proposal and, lo and behold, Arsenal were genuinely interested in him.

It caught most by surprise. Amid bids totalling £30m for Aaron Ramsdale and Roma having to be told where to shove their £13m Granit Xhaka offer, the concept of a £60m+ endeavour for one of the continent’s finest strikers seemed far-fetched.

Arsenal will need a new centre-forward at some point. Folarin Balogun is still very raw and untested in top-flight football, while Eddie Nketiah is heading for the exit door with Alexandre Lacazette a year behind him at the very most.

Arsenal suffer key Lautaro Martinez transfer blow as Romelu Lukaku closes in on Chelsea move from Inter this summer window

Furthermore, with the uninspiring performances of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in pre-season totting up, the prospect of fast-tracking any new No. 9 signing forward 12 months begins to look less unnecessary than previously.

Yet even with interest in Lautaro, that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is the financial elephant in the room making himself even more known, as over £60m would need to be parted with. Combine that with the other needs within the squad and the struggle to sell anyone and that suddenly looks unobtainable.

However, it was mentioned that Lautaro would have been keen on the move. Considering he’s playing for the best side in Serie A off the back of winning the title and competing in the Champions League each season, that’s a healthy head start.

Was the deal ever likely? If you don’t buy a ticket you will not win the raffle.

Nevertheless, this move was always going to be near impossible to pull off. Magnificent if so, but extremely difficult for a variety of reasons.

There is clear ambition from the club with some of the targets they’ve put out feelers for, as it’s been noted that Arsenal are seeing who is accessible this summer as they gather market research, of sorts, on how alluring a prospect the club still is despite the struggles they’ve faced and their less than desirable disposition.

Regarding Lautaro, this one can surely now be nipped in the bud nice and early after new developments.

Continued…

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…