Revealed: How close €100m attacker was to Man Utd this summer

Carlo Garganese

• 24 Sept 2023 14:50 BST
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Lautaro Martinez never had any intention of joining Manchester United this past summer.

United were in the market for a top-class attacker and had Lautaro, valued at over €100 million, on their shortlist along with more natural number nines like Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen.

Eventually, United signed Rasmus Hojlund for €85m from Atalanta.

READ MORE: Premier League 2023/24 summer transfers: All the Done Deals

Romano was asked how close United were to signing Inter Milan star Lautaro instead.

What did Romano say about Lautaro?

“Lautaro is very happy at Inter, and Inter love Lautaro,” Romano said on CaughtOffside.

READ MORE: Saudi Pro League summer transfers 2023: All the Done Deals

“He is the club captain and they will discuss a new deal very soon. Talks will take place in the coming months.

“In the summer there was absolutely nothing as after losing Romelu Lukaku and Edin Dzeko, for Inter it was impossible to consider selling Lautaro for any fee.”

Lautaro is considered an indispensable member of the squad, and he scored an impressive 28 goals in all competitions last season as Inter won the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and reached the Champions League final.

He has started the current season in brilliant form, also, scoring six goals in his first five games.

He has a contract until 2026 at San Siro.

The attacker did struggle at the 2022 World Cup, despite Argentina winning the trophy.

After missing a host of chances in the first two games against Saudi Arabia and Mexico, he was dropped and only appeared as a substitute for the rest of the tournament.

Lautaro failed to score a goal at the World Cup, although he did find the net in penalty shootouts.