Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur made a substantial offer for Inter Milan striker Laurato Martinez this summer but the forward was not tempted by a move to the North London club.
While Tottenham had a fairly busy summer in terms of incomings and outgoings, arguably the best piece of business the club did during the transfer window was managing to hold on to Harry Kane.
However, when the striker’s future still looked uncertain in the summer, the North London club allegedly made a move for Lautaro Martinez but ultimately failed to prise the Argentine international away from Inter.
Alasdair Gold revealed that Spurs had agreed on a €60m (£50.9m) fee for Martinez at the start of August but the deal fell through following Romelu Lukaku’s move to Chelsea, with Inter no longer needing the funds from the Argentine’s sale.
Romano has now also backed up the claim about Inter changing their stance on Martinez after Lukaku’s sale.
The journalist also revealed that the Lilywhites were ready to pay €90m (£77m) including add-ons for the 24-year-old but the striker’s wish to play Champions League football scuppered the transfer.
When asked about Tottenham’s pursuit of Martinez, Romano said on Tuesday’s episode of the Here We Go podcast: “Tottenham made a proposal for €70m plus €20m add-ons, to arrive to €90million total for Lautaro Martinez, the price tag that Inter were asking.
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“The proposal was €70m guaranteed, €10m easy add-ons – really easy to be reached, appearances of the player with Tottenham – and €10m related to the most complicated part of Lautaro Martinez’s career, like winning titles.
“Inter were absolutely not prepared to sell Lautaro Martinez, because this proposal from Tottenham was after they sold Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea.
“From what I’m told, also Lautaro Martinez wanted to stay. He was not so tempted, because he wants to play Champions League football.
“He was talking with Tottenham, yes, but it was not something agreed on personal terms.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I believe that the difficulty Tottenham faced in pricing Martinez and Vlahovic from Inter and Fiorentina respectively, probably contributed a great deal to the tough stance that Levy took on Kane.
Had Spurs felt they would be able to bring in suitable replacements, I suspect that Levy might have shown a little more interest in negotiating with City for the England captain.
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