Barcelona chasing Lautaro Martinez shows their blind trust in Lionel Messi

Barcelona are expected to have a big summer but bringing in one of their preferred targets for a high-price doesn’t make sense.

Barcelona have shown interest in Lautaro Martinez since as long as the past has been foreseeable to most. The Inter Milan marksman made a name for himself in the first half of this season after bursting onto the scene at the San Siro. Martinez has struck 16 times for Antonio Conte’s side and formed a formidable pair upfront beside Romelu Lukaku.

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Lautaro Martinez promises to develop into one of the best strikers that the world will see over the upcoming years, but his potential still needs to be realised before any club can spend 111 million euros in triggering his release clause or offer a swap deal which must be of similar value to convince Inter Milan into selling him.

Despite only being 22 and at the early stages of his career, Martinez has been a big-game player in most matches he has played, scoring against Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus as well as Napoli through the course of this season. However, a cash-tight Barca paying through their nose and being so desperate to sign him doesn’t make real sense.

From what has been noticed of late, Lautaro Martinez’s signing seems to be on the cards only because he has been wanted at the club by Lionel Messi and if that’s truly the case, it will only go on to show that the Blaugrana still regard their greatest player bigger than the club. Having said that, Antoine Griezmann is a better player who is being misused.

Atletico Madrid finally agreed to selling their World Cup winner in 2019 after Barcelona paid 120 million euros for his services and there was a lot of expectation and hype surrounding the Frenchman’s transfer to Catalonia. Griezmann’s quality must not be questioned even after a rugged campaign at the Camp Nou simply because of how consistent he has been otherwise.

The France international took the Euro 2016 by a storm and the World Cup by the scruff of its neck with important goals. Griezmann has not only created an impression with France, but even under Diego Simeone at Atletico, the player was constantly at the thick of it in big games, notably against Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, to name a few.

On the flipside, Lautaro Martinez is a striker who has had just half a good season and one good Copa America tournament. Moreover, the 22 year old is not even extraordinarily skilled off the ball or on it, as is the case with other distinguished younger forwards of today’s generation like Erling Braut Haaland or Kylian Mbappe.

Josep Maria Bartomeu has clearly shown incompetence with his transfers ever since becoming president and this time out as well, all things point towards the move being made to keep Lionel Messi happy and convincing the fans that the current Barca president deserves another tenure even though most are wishing against it.

Even though Antoine Griezmann has been employed as a left winger, he has nine goals in all competitions this season and more so after looking visibly uncomfortable in an impeded role. It makes sense for the Catalans to look at the bigger picture and go for Neymar instead and playing their big-money signing of last summer in his preferred position.

Next. Messi asks Barcelona to go for a fair & square Lautaro swap. dark

What is your opinion on the La Liga leaders’ pursuit of Lautaro Martinez?