Arsenal, who are currently leading the Premier League table by two points with a game in hand over Manchester City, are in the hunt for their first league title in almost two decades. Manager Mikel Arteta has faced attacking limitations due to the absence of Gabriel Jesus, who suffered a knee injury during the 2022 World Cup.
During Jesus’s absence, Eddie Nketiah has mainly played as the central striker, with Gabriel Martinelli and new signing Leandro Trossard also having occasional stints in that role. The Gunners are looking to strengthen their attack for the upcoming 2023-24 season, with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez reportedly on their radar for some time, according to journalist Phil Brown of GiveMeSport.
Click link https://newsaffairng.com/live-football/ to watch Live Match for free
Brown claims that the Gunners are prepared to spend big on the 25-year-old, who is under contract at San Siro until June 2026.
“Arsenal have been interested in Lautaro for a long time,” said Brown as quoted by football.london. “Whether they’ve actually ever made a firm bid, I’m not sure.
“But certainly, there’s been talk of one, and I think he’s a player they would be willing to pay quite a lot of money for.”
READ: Arsenal currently monitoring Raheem Sterling
Martinez joined Inter from Argentine outfit Racing Club in the summer of 2018 and he has since established himself as a key player and one of the leading strikers in Serie A.
The 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina has recorded 90 goals and 31 assists in 215 appearances for the Nerazzurri across all competitions, including 16 goals and seven assists in 34 games so far this season.
Martinez has been linked with a big-money move away from San Siro over the last few seasons, but a transfer for the £70m-rated striker has ultimately failed to materialise.
Inter are all but certain to hand over their Serie A title to Napoli this season, with last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Bologna allowing the Parthenopeans to extend their mammoth lead at the summit to 18 points.
Martinez expressed his disappointment following the loss to Bologna and offered a slight hint to suggest that an exit in the near future could be on the cards.
“It would be wrong to talk too much in the heat of the moment, but the sensation I have right now is that we’ll get nowhere playing like this,” Martinez told Sky Sport Italia as quoted by The Mirror.
“We need to be more consistent, we just played a great game in the Champions League, we arrive here fired up and then put in this performance.
“We’ve got to get our heads up and push forward, because we’ll get nowhere like this. We are 18 points behind Napoli, so clearly something is not working.”
Arsenal are also understood to have joined Liverpool in the race to sign Athletic Bilbao forward Nico Williams, who is facing an uncertain future with the Spanish club as he has less than 18 months remaining on his contract.
