In an interview with Mundo Deportivo, Argentina under 20 national team manager Fernando Batista has sang the praises of Inter striker Lautaro Martinez, who continues to be linked with a move to Spanish giants Barcelona.
“What I’ve always liked about Lautaro is his desire to stay a little longer to train. He has an impressive instinct, he knows how to read the game,” he explained in an interview with the Spanish news outlet.
“He is lethal and he scores so many goals by anticipating how things will go. He has power and personality and incredible potential but he is still missing a lot to get to the top. He makes the correct decisions and he has grown up a lot in Italy.”
Batista proceeded to liken Lautaro to the legendary Gabriel ‘Batigol’ Batistuta, who was one of the best strikers on the planet, especially during the 1990s.
“Lautaro is very similar to Batistuta in terms of his ability In close combat, his speed, his heading ability and physical power. Lautaro is more technical than Batistuta and is also stronger with the ball.”
Next Batista went on to reveal that he does not think that the highly rated 22-year-old would have any problems at all when it comes to adapting to Spanish football, where defenders do not mark as tightly as they do in Italy.
“He would adapt more easily to Spain than he did in Italy. The Italian defences are more fierce, they defend more, they don’t give spaces.
“The Spanish defenders give two or three seconds of time. Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored as easily as he did at Real Madrid in Italy because they mark him in a certain way. Someone like Lautaro can quickly adapt to Barcelona or Real.”
In conclusion he was asked if the fact Luis Suarez will still be with Barcelona could have a possible affect on Lautaro, if he is to move to the Blaugrana club.
“It seems to me that Barcelona are looking for a player very similar to Suarez. Lautaro can do something very similar to what the Uruguayan does and the two can play together without problems.
“Today Lautaro plays with Lukaku. They have similar characteristics and support each other. If you play 4-3-3 then there is only room for one of them but with these two ‘beasts’ in front there would be great opportunities.
“They would give Messi more options for passes than he has now. I would certainly play Lautaro and Suarez.”
This season Lautaro has made 31 appearances across all competitions to date, in which he has scored 16 goals and provided four assists for his teammates.
