Chivu sends clear message to Barcelona over Lautaro Martinez | OneFootball

There are only around ten days left till this summer transfer window closes, and FC Barcelona are yet to sign a center-forward to replace Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, who both left the Blaugrana club this summer. There is no doubt that the Catalans have had a very good transfer window, but they are yet to address this one key area of the team.

The problem is not a lack of effort. Deco has been trying to land his favorite candidate for this role, Julian Alvarez, for some months now, but has not been able to make a lot of progress on this front because of Atletico Madrid’s reluctance to negotiate with a direct rival like Barcelona for his transfer.

Keeping in view the little time left in the market, the Blaugranes have also been working on some alternatives, and the most prominent of these has been the Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez. However, getting him will not be easy either, as some reports indicate that the Nerazzurri consider him a key player and will not negotiate for his sale.

As SPORT has reported, the head coach of the Italian side, Cristian Chivu, confirmed this as he addressed a press conference. The Inter Milan coach was quite reluctant to talk about Lautaro, but ended up giving his opinion on a potential transfer:

“I’m not afraid, and I won’t talk about the transfer market. Lautaro is the captain, and there will be talk about him. Around great players, there are always discussions about things that coaches don’t like.”

“I think he will stay because he is our captain and the player around whom we are building what we want to become.”

However, he also left some room about a possibility of a transfer of his star forward:

“The transfer market is always quite unpredictable, and we’ll see, but I think he will stay.”

With only a few days left in the transfer market, it would not be long to find out how this story develops. Barcelona reportedly still prioritize a move for Julian Alvarez, but there is no doubt Lautaro Martinez can be another very good option for them. However, Inter Milan look ready to put up stiff resistance to his departure as well.