Real Madrid has denied agreeing a €100 million deal with Inter Milan for 23-year-old forward Lautaro Martínez hours after a report went viral that the Spanish club has hijacked the player from their league rivals Barcelona.
Earlier on Monday, a viral report claimed that Inter Milan has been trying to keep the transaction between them and Real Madrid secret in order to keep their negotiation with Barcelona going.
Also, according to a report by Sport Mediaset, Inter Milan wanted to keep the deal secret because of their interest in Barcelona’s Arturo Vidal.
The report speculated that Real Madrid would not pay the full €100 million as the balance of the transfer fee would be used to wipe out the €40 million Inter paid to Madrid for the services of Achraf Hakimi this summer. Hence, Madrid was expected to pay between 50 to 60 million euros.
The purported deal would have earned Argentina forward about €8 million per season, which is reportedly €2 million lower than the wages Barcelona has proposed for Lautaro Martínez.
Contrary to Sport Mediaset’s report, the online version of the Spanish newspaper ABC, reported that Real Madrid has denied the report linking the club to the €100 million deal. The club reportedly said they are not planning to sign any new player due to the financial situation of the club.
Madrid reportedly stressed that the club’s plan for this season is to focus on bringing in their players who have been on loan in other clubs if necessary instead of going for new players.
Hence, this statement from Madrid has rubbished a report which claimed that there was a meeting between Lautaro’s agent Beto Yaque and Real Madrid representatives where there was an exchange of cash for the services of the player.
This has also opened the door wider to Barcelona which has shown more interest in bringing the Argentina international to the club this summer.
Lautaro Martínez has become one of the hottest brands in the transfer market especially after his starlet performance for Inter Milan in the previous season. Before the season ended, the 23-year-old forward scored 21 goals and provided 7 assists which helped Inter Milan to finish second in Serie A and made it to the Europa League final.
🗣”Real Madrid are not going to sign him for €100m!” @AlvaroMonteroTV on the future of Lautaro Martinez pic.twitter.com/2YCs6i6lph
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 14, 2020
