Argentina’s current squad is littered with players who will go down in the pantheons of football history. Having immortalized themselves with their 2022 World Cup win, many players from that team have cemented their legacies at both club and international levels. 

For some Internazionale fans, they’d argue that Lautaro Martinez has already done this, with multiple team and personal accolades and over 100 goals in Serie A. He is undeniably one of the great Serie A strikers of this decade so far. 

However, in the broader context of some of the greatest players we’ve seen grace the field at the San Siro, where does the Argentinian goal machine rank, and if he stays at Inter for the rest of his career, could he find himself finishing his career as the best goalscorer we’ve seen at Inter Milan?

Another Stellar Season For Lautaro Martínez

With seven goals in 13 games already this season, the Argentinian has once again hit the ground running. The bookies and gambling companies have Inter Milan streets ahead of the competition, even at this early juncture. You’d be hard-pressed to find a betting market that doesn’t have them as overwhelming favourites. 

Although many top European leagues have a global audience and a betting market that rumbles beneath them, the expansion of digital entertainment has brought more eyes and ears to the broader world of both betting and football.

Many casino gaming platforms now offer a way for people to place wagers on a wide range of niche markets, and the marriage of multiple betting markets and media has also led to a larger global audience getting their Serie A highlights from sites like YouTube. 

We’ve seen other innovations become more prevalent in casino gaming, too. There’s Joe Fortune Casino, which uses a mix of contemporary crypto payment systems and conventional payment methods. As more niche markets open up throughout the gambling world, they can be a strong indicator of what to expect in the sporting world, too. That’s not to say Inter and Lautaro Martinez will get their hands on the title this season, but if he stays fit and sharp, they will be the team to beat. 

Ranking The Greats Of The San Siro

If we’re breaking down the top strikers who have played for Inter Milan and also have a World Cup winners medal in their cabinet at home, then Martinez already joins an esteemed list of greats. There’s Alessandro Altobelli, who was part of the 1982 Italian squad that lifted the World Cup and notched up over 200 goals for Inter Milan.

In recent times, there’s the might of Christian Vieri and Samuel Eto’o, the latter of whom was instrumental in the 2010 Champions League win. While they were incredible players in their own right, Martinez’s tally has now eclipsed both of them, and he sits just one goal behind Sandro Mazzola.

And considering he has a good few solid seasons ahead of him, or that is what most Inter fans will be hoping for, he could end up near the higher echelons of this list when he finally decides to call it a day.

While Martinez hasn’t got his hands on the European Cup yet, he has come remarkably close on two occasions, and his form in the competition keeps Inter Milan among the strong favorites to win it. 

Final Say

Giuseppe Meazza is still the greatest striker ever to wear the Inter Milan jersey, and his two World Cup wins rank him alongside some of the greatest strikers of all time. If Ronaldo had stayed at Inter longer and managed to avoid injuries, then some believe he would’ve eclipsed Meazza.

However, for Lautaro Martinez to find himself ranked alongside these legends, he will have to get his hands on another World Cup and maybe a couple of European Cups before he can be mentioned in the same breath as these two icons of the game.

He’s definitely on course to etch his name into the folklore of the San Siro. In fact, he could leave next summer, and he will still go down as a legend.

The real question is whether he decides to see out the rest of his career at Inter Milan. It could determine whether he goes down as an icon of his era or as one of the true Inter Milan greats

Given that he already has multiple Serie A and Coppa Italia titles, as well as his World Cup winners’ medal, he already has the trophy cabinet to back this up. Still, if he can add another 80 to 100 goals to his Inter tally between now and the end of his career, then he will be standing shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the Italian game.