Lautaro Martinez turned down ‘lucrative offers’ to stay at Inter

The
Nerazzurri
began
their
Serie
A
title
defence
on
Saturday
(August
21)
with
a
4-0
win
over
Genoa,
but
there
were
significant
changes
to
the
side
that
won
the
Scudetto
last
season.

New
signings
Hakan
Calhanoglu
and
Edin
Dzeko
were
among
the
scorers,
with
Simone
Inzaghi
in
the
dugout
for
the
first
time.

Antonio
Conte,
Romelu
Lukaku
and
Achraf
Hakimi
all
left
Inter,
and
Martinez
was
also
linked
with
a
move
away,
Tottenham
considered
potential
suitors.

However,
the
Argentina
international
–
absent
against
Genoa,
having
won
the
Copa
America
in
the
off-season
–
appears
certain
to
remain
at
Inter.

Marotta,
speaking
before
Saturday’s
game,
revealed
Martinez
had
options
elsewhere
but
preferred
to
continue
with
the
champions.

“Lautaro
is
a
player
who
explicitly
asked
to
stay
at
Inter,
despite
receiving
other
lucrative
offers,”
Marotta
told
DAZN.

—
Inter
(@Inter_en)

August
21,
2021

“We
are
proud
of
that.
He
wants
to
prove
himself
a
champion
here,
and
we
are
very
happy
that
he
can
continue
his
growth
process
at
this
club.”

Martinez
scored
17
Serie
A
goals
last
season
as
well
as
supplying
six
assists,
with
a
goal
involvement
every
112
minutes.

That
was
his
most
prolific
campaign
in
Serie
A,
with
20
goals
across
the
2018-19
and
2019-20
seasons
combined.

The
forward
will
now
link
up
with
Dzeko,
who
marked
his
Inter
bow
and
200th
Serie
A
outing
with
both
a
goal
and
an
assist.

He
and
Calhanoglu,
who
also
scored
one
and
made
one,
became
the
first
Nerazzurri
debutants
to
achieve
that
feat
since
Zlatan
Ibrahimovic
in
2006.