Lautaro Martinez opens up on Barcelona interest as Inter Milan star makings feelings on transfer clear

Lautaro Martinez has said that it was "a pleasure" to be linked with Barcelona over the summer, but the Argentina international wants to finish his career at Inter Milan.

Having failed in their attempts to sign Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid, it is understood that Barcelona turned their attention to Martinez before the end of the summer transfer window.

However, the Catalan outfit were unable to secure a deal for the striker.

Martinez has confirmed that there was interest from Barcelona, but the 29-year-old made it clear that he was only ever interested in remaining with Inter.

The Argentine is yet to get off the mark in terms of goals for Inter this season, but he has helped his side record back-to-back wins over Monza and Cagliari in Serie A.

Martinez has a record of 175 goals and 56 assists in 378 appearances for Inter, while his contract with the Milan giants is due to run until the summer of 2029.

Barca were strongly linked with Martinez after Alvarez deal collapsed

"When these offers and calls come in, it is always a pleasure, because you work to stay at the top. The rumours were true, but I am very clear about my ideas: I wanted to stay here with my teammates and with these magnificent fans," Martinez told Sky Italia.

"I would stay forever and, as long as they want me, I will stay here. But in this job we already know how it is: when you are no longer useful, they throw you out.

"Inter means everything to me: pride, happiness, and the desire to keep moving forward. I have chosen to stay here again, I want to do great things at Inter.

"I never imagined reaching this point in my career with Inter, achieving all my goals. This motivates me to keep moving forward; it's my mentality. I try to give my all in every training session.

"In football, you never know what is going to happen, but today I have a contract and I am happy. I decided to stay because I feel good and I want to achieve great things at Inter."

Which forwards did Barcelona sign over the summer?

Barcelona made eight signings during the summer transfer window, with five of them being forwards.

Indeed, Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, Gabriel Jesus, Jesse Bisiwu and Hamza Abdelkarim arrived at Camp Nou before the deadline.

Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski were among those to move on, so there is a fresh look to the Barcelona squad this season, but Raphinha has been the attacking star so far in 2026-27, finding the back of the net on five occasions in just three appearances.