According to a report from Italian news outlet Alfredo Pedulla, Man City have been dealt a double blow in their race to sign €90 million (£80.8 million) striker Lautaro Martinez – with the Argentine choosing Barcelona and Inter Milan potentially swooping for club legend Sergio Aguero as his replacement.
Contrary to past reports which suggested City were ‘hot favourites‘ to land the 22-year-old, manager Pep Guardiola’s former club Barca now appear in the driving seat for Martinez’ signature – especially since the youngster has apparently ‘chosen‘ Catalonia over the Eastlands.
Who would you sign to succeed Aguero?
Lautaro Martinez
Timo Werner
Nobody, Gabriel Jesus is the one
As well as this, after the Sky Blues were originally touted to sign Martinez, it’s now been revealed that Inter may well target club icon Aguero as the forward’s San Siro successor – with City now potentially missing out on both men in one fell swoop.
In an interview with Sky Sports Italia (via sempreinter.com), former Premier League striker Hernan Crespo described his compatriot as ‘the new Aguero‘, perhaps indicating why we had such an alleged interest in the striker.
Crespo also waxed lyrical over Martinez’ capabilities to calciomercato, claiming he is ‘very talented‘ and a ‘potential champion‘ – it’s not exactly hard to see why either when going by his statistics.
According to WhoScored, the Argentina international averages more shots per game than any City player in the league, even Aguero, and also attracts nearly twice as many fouls as winger Raheem Sterling.
Now, with Barca looking firmly in pole position to acquire his signature, the loss of target Martinez could be a potential blow along with Inter’s desire to poach Aguero – but it’s debatably unlikely that we would sell our club legend given his status.