Chelsea have blown Barcelona out of the water with their bid for Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, according to reports in Spain.
Martinez has scored 16 goals in 28 appearances for the Serie A side in all competitions, leading to interest from around Europe.
The Argentine is Barcelona’s top summer target, but recent reports suggest that they face competition from Premier League sides Chelsea and Manchester City.
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Manchester United have also consistently been linked with a move for the San Siro striker, but could be put off by the transfer fee.
And now Spanish publication Sport (via Sport Witness) seem to think that Chelsea are winning the battle for Martinez.
The report claims that Chelsea ‘have presented an offer’ to Inter with Sport suggesting that the Blues were willing to pay his €111m (£97.5m) release clause to secure the deal.
Chelsea’s proposal is ‘much better’ than the package Barcelona were willing to put together with the London club ready to give Martinez wages of €10m (£8.8m) net a year.
Despite the Blues offer apparently trumping that of Barca’s, the report adds: ‘everything is in the hands of the player and the final decision will not take long to arrive.’
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