INTER MILAN: LAUTARO THE BULL CAN END ITALIANS’ DROUGHT
FROM Hernan Crespo to Diego Milito to Mauro Icardi, Inter Milan have always had a soft spot for Argentinian centre forwards — and in current No 10 Lautaro Martinez, they might just have found the best of the lot.
Quick, strong and effective both in the air and on the deck, Lautaro, as he is known, has the potential to be one of the finest strikers of his generation, even if he is happier watching LeBron James than Lionel Messi.
For now though El Toro (The Bull) is focusing on helping his club to their first European trophy in 10 years by defeating Sevilla in tonight’s Europa League final. The 22-year-old’s list of admirers is in line to grow, especially after he struck two fine goals in the 5- 0 semi- final win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Thanks to a stellar display when Inter lost 2-1 at Barcelona in the Champions League in October, Lautaro is regarded so highly at the Nou Camp that Luis Suarez — the man he may one day replace — is already paying him compliments. ‘Lautaro has grown up a lot in Italy,’ Suarez told newspaper El Mundo
Deportivo. ‘He is a special striker with fantastic movement. We all want to win, and if someone who can help us do that were to come here, he would be welcomed. I’m not worried, competition between talented players is a good thing.’
Lautaro’s release clause, however, is around £95million, which may test even Barca’s resources.
The striker’s development is all the more impressive when you consider that when he joined Inter, he had fewer than three years’ senior football behind him.
Indeed, he was close to dedicating himself to basketball at the age of 15.
‘I love basketball,’ he told Argentinian magazine El
Grafico in 2017. ‘ At 15, I had to choose and I went with football but if I hadn’t made it, I’d have played basketball.’
Lautaro could have joined Real Madrid in 2015 but decided to remain in Argentina. Two years later, he came close to joining Atletico Madrid, only to stay put once again. Those near-misses allowed Inter to strike in 2018, paying around £ 20m — an outstanding piece of business. After a slow start in Milan, Lautaro has rapidly become a key man and his partnership with Romelu Lukaku in attack has developed into a potent one.
Before the coronavirus crisis halted Italian football in March, the pair had 39 goals between them and were helping Antonio Conte’s side build a challenge to champions Juventus.
‘We are good friends, we spend time together off the field, too,’ said Lukaku. ‘I am really happy with the way we are going but we can do much better.’
Nevertheless, Lautaro has kept racking up the personal milestones. His strike at Barcelona made him the first Inter player to score at the Nou Camp since Roberto Boninsegna in 1970. Later in the competition, he became only the fourth Inter player to score in four consecutive Champions League matches.
Inter haven’t delivered on the European stage since Jose Mourinho led them to the Champions League title in 2010. If he is to emulate Mourinho this week, Conte needs the Bull to take the game by the horns.