Arsenal the best-placed team to complete Serie A coup with star eager to join Arteta amid Man Utd, Chelsea interest

Arsenal appear to be the frontrunners to sign Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan amid claims he is ‘very keen’ to link up with Mikel Arteta, despite rival interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.

Martinez is enjoying a prolific season with Inter, having notched 15 goals and seven assists during 31 matches so far. His most recent goal was the winner during Inter’s narrow victory over rivals AC Milan on Sunday February 5.

The centre-forward struggled with Argentina at the World Cup, failing to score any goals and ultimately losing his starting spot to Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez. But he has gotten back to his best in Italy and could soon eclipse the 20-goal mark in all competitions.

Martinez’s good scoring record with Inter means he is often considered by Premier League clubs looking to improve their forward options. And on Monday, TEAMtalk exclusively revealed that Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea are all preparing to battle it out for him in the summer transfer window.

Man Utd will need a new striker once Wout Weghorst returns to Burnley at the end of the season. Arsenal could do with adding a new experienced centre-forward to their ranks to compete with Gabriel Jesus up front. Chelsea, meanwhile, still need a prolific striker despite spending so much money in January.

Those factors have seen the three Premier League giants converge on Martinez. And an update on the 25-year-old’s situation has now arrived from Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke.

He claims Arsenal are in contact with Martinez’s representatives as they draw up plans for a summer move. The Gunners believe there is a good chance Martinez will be sold in the summer due to Inter’s financial woes.

While the attacker has more than three years left to run on his Inter contract, Arsenal think the Serie A giants will sell for £70-80million. A transfer in this region could see Martinez become Arsenal’s most expensive player, ahead of £72m winger Nicolas Pepe.

Arsenal target hoping to join

And in a major boost for Arteta, the 46-cap international is thought to be ‘very keen’ on joining Arsenal. At this moment in time, it seems Arsenal are the best-placed club to land him, ahead of Man Utd and Chelsea.

Perhaps Arsenal’s league position is doing them a big favour in the hunt for Martinez. They sit top of the table and have a real chance at lifting the league title ahead of Manchester City. Man Utd are doing well themselves and occupy third spot, so Martinez could be convinced to join them too.

Chelsea though are languishing in 10th. This means they might struggle to get Martinez to join Graham Potter’s project.

Arsenal fans would love to see Martinez rival Jesus for a starting place in attack. After all, they are both very good strikers with top-flight and European experience.

However, Arsenal supporters may just have a slight concern about spending £70-80m on the Argentine. The north London side are plotting a summer swoop for Declan Rice to revamp their midfield.

As he will cost around £70m himself, there is a big question over whether Arsenal can afford to spend £140m on just two players in one window.

Meanwhile, Thierry Henry has lauded an Arsenal player and revealed one big change which can make him a world-beater.