Italian football journalist Luca Marchetti has revealed that Barcelona have been forced to postpone their pursuit of Inter striker Lautaro Martinez.

The Blaugrana club have been courting the 22-year-old Argentine national team forward for some time now with many reports stating he is their number one transfer target.

However due to an inability to raise appropriate funds to fund a move for Lautaro coupled with LaLiga’s newly introduced transfer restrictions which limit clubs’ spending, they have had to put a move for the highly rated talent on hold.

“Lautaro to Barcelona is not all over, but postponed,” he explained in an interview with Italian radio station Radio 24 show ‘Tutto Convocati’ earlier on today.

“Inter have said that if Barcelona want Lautaro they have to pay his release clause and they can’t pay it right now, also because of the rules introduced in Spain.”

This season Lautaro, who has a contract with Inter through to the end of the 2022/23 season, has made 35 appearances across all competitions to date.

In his time on the park, which totals just over 2700 minutes, the former Racing Club player has scored 17 goals and provided a total of four assists for his teammates.