Inter striker Lautaro Martinez has rejected the chance to join Tottenham this summer, according to the Argentine's agent.
Amid all the chaos of Lionel Messi saying his goodbyes to Barcelona, up popped a story saying Spurs had agreed a fee of over £60m to sign Martinez, whom they hoped to line up alongside wantaway hitman Harry Kane.
Inter then left the final decision up to Martinez, and according to his agent Alejandro Camano, the 23-year-old has rejected the chance to head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Lautaro is happy at Inter and in Italy," Camano told Cesar Luis Merlo. "His decision is to stay.
"His relationship with Inter is perfect. Lautaro is calm. It is true that there were offers, but today he is comfortable and we will sit down to talk about the future."
Camano then told FCInter1908: "Lautaro is an Inter player and is happy in Italy. He will never enter into conflict with the club. Never, this is reality."
This is the second time that Spurs have been snubbed by an expensive transfer target this summer. Earlier in the window, Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde turned down the chance to join the club, and the Frenchman is now currently in talks to join Chelsea.
The Kounde rejection seems a little worse than Martinez's snub, particularly given the latter was probably not going to be sold anyway.
As noted by football.london, Spurs actually reached an agreement over the Martinez fee earlier in the week, before Chelsea stampeded their way to Lukaku. The Blues flew through negotiations and have lined the Belgian up for a medical in the coming hours, so his departure is all but confirmed.
Inter are open to losing one of their star strikers and were prepared to make it Martinez at the time of the Spurs negotiations, but with Lukaku now returning to Chelsea, the Serie A side are looking to pull the plug on his exit.
From Camano's words, it seems as though Martinez isn't going to put up much of a fight either. If Inter want him to stay, it looks like he's staying.
Tags
TRANSFERS
