Arsenal approached Lautaro Martinez in deadline-day scramble as Inter refused £73m sale

Arsenal approached Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez in the closing days of the summer transfer window, only to be rebuffed by a club unwilling to part with their talisman, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

With deadline day approaching and a striker still absent from Mikel Arteta’s squad, Arsenal assistant manager Gabriel Heinze — a fellow Argentine — reached out personally to Martinez to gauge his interest in a move to north London. The answer was effectively no on both fronts: Inter valued the forward at €85 million (£73m) and declined to negotiate, while Martinez himself had little appetite to leave.

The approach came after a summer in which Arsenal missed out on a string of attacking targets. Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Jnr and Julian Alvarez all slipped through their grasp before attention turned to the Inter captain. Martinez still has three years remaining on his contract at the San Siro, where he has scored 175 goals across his career — third on the club’s all-time list. Last season alone he contributed 22 goals in 41 appearances.

Martinez was also courted by Barcelona after Atletico Madrid made clear they would not sell Alvarez to the Catalan club. The striker acknowledged that interest from the Nou Camp materialised, but as far back as May he had made his intentions plain. “No doubt I would like to retire at this club,” he said. “It’s hard for me to imagine myself anywhere else these days. You never know in football but if they don’t kick me out, I’m staying here.”

With no new striker secured, Arteta has opened the Premier League season deploying Kai Havertz as his central forward. The German, who missed large portions of last season through injury, has reclaimed the role, leaving Viktor Gyokeres — a natural number nine — on the bench and short of minutes.

Arteta was also prepared to allow Gabriel Jesus to join Barcelona on deadline day, with the Brazilian considered surplus to requirements. Arsenal have won both of their opening league fixtures, but the absence of a proven world-class striker continues to draw scrutiny heading into the new campaign.