Argentine ace was ready to join Barcelona this summer but the club did not prioritise the transfer

Barcelona’s summer pursuit of Julian Alvarez has been well documented, as the club tried all summer to lure him away from Atletico Madrid.

But as soon as Barcelona learnt Atleti are in no mood to sell, the club began exploring other options, including Alvarez’s national teammate Lautaro Martinez.

Deco himself has confirmed recently that Martinez was indeed an option for Barcelona but the move never quite materialised.

Lautaro was willing to join

Lautaro Martinez wanted to join Barcelona in the summer. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

A recent report from Diario SPORT has offered some fresh perspective on Barcelona’s pursuit of Martinez this past summer.

The report points out that Lautaro was always ready to join the Catalan camp this summer, as a direct replacement for Robert Lewandowski.

But he was also loyal to Inter Milan and was only willing to leave if Barcelona were able to reach an amicable agreement with the Nerazzurri.

Inter Milan, though, denied any real approach from Barcelona as the club simply did not have anyone to sign as a replacement for the Argentine international. As a result, Lautaro ended up remaining at the club.

Martinez was never a priority

Martinez was never a priority for Barcelona. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

The report adds that part of the reason the Lautaro deal did not go through is that Barcelona were never really serious about signing the Argentine.

Although he was identified as a potential target, the Catalans had always considered Alvarez their number one priority and had harboured the hopes of signing the Atleti star until the last minute.

When Barcelona did realise the Alvarez move wasn’t going to happen, the club reached an agreement with Arsenal for Gabriel Jesus as a fallback option.

The economic terms of the Gabriel deal was very favourable for Barcelona and the player’s salary cut meant it did not take much of an effort to register him as part of the squad.

Lautaro Martinez, on the other hand, would have had problems getting registered due to his salary package.