Barcelona handed crucial boost over Real Madrid in pursuit of €111m transfer target

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Reports in Italy have claimed that if Lautaro Martinez is to leave Inter, he would only consider a switch to Barcelona as his next move.

The 22-year-old has enjoyed a fine season with the Nerazzurri thus far, scoring 16 goals and providing four assists in 31 appearances.

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As noted by FourFourTwo, the Argentine international has a €111m release clause in his current contract with the Serie A giants, and so it remains to be seen if any interested parties are firstly willing to pay that.

However, it’s now been reported by Mundo Deportivo, via the paper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, that should Martinez decide on leaving Inter, albeit it’s stressed that he’s happy at the San Siro, his only option would be Barcelona.

Both Real Madrid and Manchester City are specifically mentioned in the report as also being interested, but based on the report above, it seems as though Barcelona have a huge advantage over them this summer if Martinez can be prised away from Italy.

With Barca and Madrid locked in a tense La Liga title battle this season, there isn’t a great deal between them as they have both slipped up and swapped top spot between them.

In turn, any signings ahead of next season could be decisive in seeing one of them move ahead of the other, and Martinez has arguably shown enough this year to suggest that he has the quality to hand one of them a major boost.

It seems as though Barcelona will be the ones to benefit if he can be prised away, but with that release clause in mind, they’ll surely have to dig deep into their pockets to firstly convince Inter to sell before they can try and persuade Martinez to start a fresh challenge at the Nou Camp.

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