Laporta reveals how Inter shut down his Lautaro Martinez pursuit in seconds

There was a phone call, a flat "no," and that was the end of it. That's how quickly Barcelona's attempt to sign Lautaro Martinez collapsed this summer, according to Joan Laporta himself in an interview with Corriere della Sera.

The Barcelona president explained that after running out of options to land Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid, the club turned its attention to the Argentine striker. The problem was that Inter Milan didn't even let the conversation get off the ground.

One day I called Marotta. It was just the two of us on the call, no intermediaries, and I told him I would have loved to have Lautaro on my team because I admire the guy enormously. But Marotta didn't even let me finish talking. He made it clear that Lautaro wasn't for sale and that it wouldn't be up to the player whether he left or not. So I dropped the whole idea right there. There was no way to take it any further.Joan Laporta

Giuseppe Marotta's response, delivered as Inter's CEO, left no room for negotiation: Lautaro wasn't going anywhere, full stop. With that door closed, Barcelona ended up signing Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal on the final day of the transfer window, trying to fill the gap left by the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres after last season.

But the real solution didn't come from outside the club, it came from within. Raphinha became the team's number nine to start the new campaign, and he answered the call right away: 14 goals in eight matches, including back to back hat tricks in La Liga before the international break. Nobody expected such a fast adjustment to a position that wasn't even his own.

Not the first time

None of this is new, either. Barcelona had already explored a move for Martinez back in 2020, when they were looking for a replacement for Luis Suarez. Five years later, the outcome was identical: Inter simply won't let go of their captain.

The player himself put any speculation to rest in early September. Martinez, who has four goals in four Serie A matches this season, said it was an "honor and a source of immense satisfaction" to be linked with clubs like Barcelona, but he was clear about his future: he's staying at Inter, where his contract runs through 2029.

Since arriving from Racing Club in 2018, the forward has racked up 179 goals in 381 appearances in the nerazzurri shirt, along with three Scudetti, three Coppa Italia titles and two Champions League finals. Numbers that go a long way toward explaining why Marotta wouldn't even hear the offer out.