Agent casts doubt on Inter star’s future after fiery clash with Conte
The agent of Lautaro Martinez has refused to commit his future to Inter Milan, despite stating how happy the striker is there.
Martinez has been at Inter since 2018 and has grown into one of Serie A’s best attackers. This season, he has scored 16 goals in the Italian top flight, helping Inter win the Scudetto. But there are doubts over some of their star players’ futures due to their financial situation.
To complicate the picture further, Martinez was involved in a tense exchange with head coach Antonio Conte on Wednesday. After coming on as a substitute in the first half of their win over Roma, he was then taken off with 13 minutes still to go.
The Argentine international was clearly not happy but Conte refused to acknowledge him at first. The coach then said to him: “Have respect! Who are you angry with? Never react like this again.”
With speculation swirling about both of their futures, it was far from an ideal scene, even if it was just in the heat of the moment.
Martinez is under contract until 2023 and has been linked with a move away. There have been suggestions of a move to Barcelona, or even the Premier League.
Inter may try to extend his contract but they also know they may have to sell some of their most important players. Hence, Martinez’s agent is waiting for clarification before committing.
“We are calm, but the current situation of Inter prevents us from making any predictions,” Alejandro Camano told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The lad is happy in Milan, he has just won a championship as a protagonist, but we cannot help but wait.
“At present it’s useless to make predictions. We, like the others, first want to understand what the future of the club will be.”
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Inter react to row
Conte himself did not speak after the match so that he didn’t face questions about the club’s financial situation.
However, his assistant Cristian Stellini spoke about the incident between the coach and Martinez.
“This is something that also happened to me 14 years ago when Conte was my coach and I was still a player. He substituted me after 20 minutes,” Stellini told Sky Sport Italia.
“This is an example of the mentality we want to see. Even if the result is already secure, we expect all the players to give the maximum effort.
“At that moment, Lautaro was not playing up to the right standard and we want players who are always fully focused.
“Some things remain on the pitch, it’s all in the past now and we will look forward to the next match.”
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