This season, Inter Milan could be relying on their captain Lautaro Martinez more than ever to fire their attack.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who brand the Nerazzurri “Lautaro-centric.”
Inter’s new captain Martinez underlined his importance to his team in the very first match of the season. The Argentine scored both the Nerazzurri’s goals in a 2-0 win over Monza.
Meanwhile, both Marcus Thuram and Marko Arnautovic showed some positive signs.
The latter assisted Martinez for Inter’s second goal. This could be an early indication that the two strikers can form a real partnership.
However, one thing that neither Thuram nor Arnautovic did was get on the scoresheet.
Both seemed to do their best work further away from goal, whereas Martinez was the Inter striker who got himself into dangerous positions and on the end of chances.
Alexis Sanchez also arrives on a free transfer. However, the Chilean is not generally the most prolific of goalscorers – like Thuram and Arnautovic, he may find that his best contributions come from other aspects of his game.
Inter Milan Looking “Lautaro-Centric” In 2023-24
Last season, Martinez had been Inter’s top scorer.
However, the 26-year-old was hardly the Nerazzurri’s only prolific source of goals.
Edin Dzeko also carried his share of the attack, with some important performances and goals at key moments. For example, the Bosnian scored in a 1-0 win over Napoli in January where Martinez did not start.
Dzeko also put in man of the match performances and scored the decisive goals against AC Milan in both the Supercoppa Italiana and the Champions League semifinals.
Romelu Lukaku, as well, showed his prowess in front of goal when he was fit.
This was admittedly not always the case – the Belgian was out with two long-term injuries.
However, towards the end of the campaign Lukaku proved an even more consistent source of goals than Martinez.
Therefore, Martinez could take a breather, or go a match (or two, or several) without scoring without it being fatal to Inter’s attack.
This season, both Dzeko and Lukaku are gone. Thuram and Arnautovic (as well as Sanchez) have arrived to replace them.
However, the Gazzett question whether the new forwards can contribute goals as reliably as their predecessors.
Therefore, Inter will certainly be glad that in their captain they have a striker who scores virtually a goal per game.
But on the other hand, Martinez has earned a reputation as a bit of a streaky goalscorer. Badly-timed goal droughts have been an unfortunate theme of his past couple seasons, even has he has been broadly prolific.
Therefore, the Gazzetta suggest, Martinez’s fitness and form will be more crucial than ever to Inter.
