Joan Laporta Wanted Lautaro Martínez at Any Cost for Barcelona

Laporta wanted "Toro"

The president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, stated in an interview with the Italian Corriere dello Sport that he wanted to sign the Argentine Lautaro Martínez "at any cost" and that they didn't want to let him slip away because he is "an incredible player," although Inter Milan responded that he was not for sale.

"Everything is true, I wanted Lautaro at any cost. He is an incredible footballer, we didn't want to let him slip away. So I called the president (Giuseppe 'Beppe') Marotta and he told me the player was not for sale," asserted Laporta to the sports newspaper based in Rome, in words published this Wednesday.

"In any case, it would not have been the player who decided whether to leave or not, because Inter wanted to keep him. So, out of respect for Beppe, whom I hold in high regard, we stopped," he added.

The Barcelona executive, who thus confirmed the rumors from the past summer market that placed the Argentine player, captain of the 'Neroazzurro' team, in the orbit of Barcelona, highlighted the difficulty of the operation due to the fact that Inter had secured the most important player of their squad.

Barcelona pursued the attacker for the past few years, although Inter always remained firm about keeping their forward, who on some occasions also conveyed to the Italian team his attraction to Barça.

Although Lautaro Martínez, world champion with Argentina in Qatar 2022, declared at the beginning of September that, despite the interest from the Catalan club being "an honor," everything is clear in his mind and his life is in Milan.

"I have chosen to stay at Inter because I feel good here and I want to stay to do even better," he said in statements to Sky during the 'Gran Galà del Calcio'. EFE

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