da heads bet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
da pinnacle： According to Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo, Manchester United are now interested in signing Inter forward Lautaro Martinez.
What’s the word?
Having allowed both Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to leave the club in the summer, the Red Devils left themselves considerably short of attacking firepower. Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood have been the men tasked with leading the line for the Red Devils, and whilst there has been a recent resurgence from the from the initial two, the side still looks bereft of goals.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team have scored just 13 goals in their opening ten Premier League games, and so it has been no surprise to see them being linked with a move for a striker. Reports in recent weeks have claimed the club are looking at Juventus’ Mario Mandzukic and Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson as possible options in the January transfer window.
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Now, Mundo Deportivo claim the Red Devils are ready to rival Barcelona for the services of Martinez, but that they could face a potential hurdle thanks to Inter’s reported €111m (£95.6m) valuation.
Combative
At just 22-years-old, Martinez is making his presence felt for one of Italian football’s biggest sides. Despite seeing both Lukaku and Sanchez join the club, the Argentine has not let the former United duo steal the limelight away from him this season. The centre-forward has struck seven times in 13 games across all competitions, including a goal apiece against Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Solskjaer is seemingly keen on implementing a fast style of play, with pressing from the front. During pre-season in the summer, the Norwegian remarked: “We’ve been working hard, trying to get the front-foot press and trying to create and score as many goals as possible.”
And no doubt thanks to the Antonio Conte effect, Martinez has been doing that in abundance with Inter. In the Serie A this year, the 22-year-old has averaged an impressive 0.9 tackles per game – considerably more than the 0.2 and 0.7, Martial and Rashford have managed in the Premier League respectively.
Despite standing at just 5 foot 9, Martinez is no stranger to putting himself about, and going head to head with opposition centre-backs. He has averaged one foul per game in the Italian top-flight, and it’s that combative approach that would no doubt endear him to the kind of style Solskjaer wants to employ at United.