Inter Milan drop asking price for prized Barcelona target

Barcelona still prioritizing signing Lautaro Martinez.

Barcelona have not yet thrown in the towel in their attempt to lure Lautaro Martinez away from Inter Milan. They are still committed to landing the Argentine striker and could be receiving some good news on that front.

According to Diario Sport, Inter are willing to cut their asking price for Martinez and would accept €90 million for him which is a drop from the €111 million they were asking before.

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The release clause of €111 million expired on July 7 but the Catalans remained confident that they could reach a deal beyond the expiration date.

While the asking price may have lowered, it still appears to be too much for Barcelona. Their plan continues to be to include a player in a possible deal.

The reduction does mean that Inter may be more keen to take on a player and reduce the fee even further. Arturo Vidal’s name has come up again and his performances as of late have helped his cause.

The strategy for the club ahead of the upcoming transfer window is to do more deals like the one that saw Arthur head to Juventus in exchange for Miralem Pjanic.

In other words, deals that would see the club include a player in an effort to drive down their target’s asking price. Those are tricky deals to structure and so far have seen little success.

Barcelona have reportedly reached personal terms with Martinez.

According to ESPN, the club have reached a personal agreement with Martinez to join next season. However, Philippe Coutinho stands in the way.

They believe that they need to sell Coutinho first in order to make room on the squad for the Martinez and to be able to afford the striker.

He’s not the only player on the list they want to sell with the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Junior Firpo and Nelson Semedo also seem to be on their way out.

Ousmane Dembele could also find himself on that list as Manchester United are said to be interested in him as a potential alternative to Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

Martinez’s performances at Inter have taken a hit since the restart with Antonio Conte criticizing him after he missed a penalty. Some attribute his dip to the constant rumors linking him with Barcelona.

It is no secret that he would improve Barcelona and be the striker they’ve been searching for to take over from Luis Suarez. The price drop should help the negotiations and it’s up to them now to get a deal over the line.