Inter Milan are keeping Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ‘warm’ this summer and should move for him if Lautaro Martínez leaves for Barcelona.
That’s according to Fc Inter News, who explain the situation surrounding the two players in an exclusive today.
Aubameyang is widely expected to leave Arsenal this summer, having entered the final year of his contract and refused to sign a new deal.
Arsenal are willing to guarantee him his current wages of €12m a year, but the project does not convince him because he wants to ‘win and compete’ at the highest level
He doesn’t believe he will get that should he stay at the Emirates and is now looking at a move elsewhere.
Inter are willing to provide that, with the Gabonese international having been a target for Piero Ausilio when he was at Borussia Dortmund, while Beppe Marotta also wanted to bring him to Juventus.
Inter’s courtship ‘fascinates and intrigues’ Aubameyang as he knows he would be an ‘absolute protagonist’ and be able to enact ‘revenge’ of AC Milan, who got rid of him earlier in his career.
A move to Italy would also let him return to the country where he grew up, but it is entirely dependant on Martínez’s potential move to Barcelona.
Inter and Barça have been negotiating over the striker for some time, and the Spanish side’s last offer was rejected a month ago.
Martínez is determined to move to the Nou Camp after being seduced by an offer of €12m a year, with Inter unable to match those demands. However, they are asking for €90m, and that is a price Barcelona cannot match at present.
They remain determined to sign the Argentine, but if they cannot, they have alternative options and signing Aubameyang from Arsenal is one of them.
He would be Plan C, the ‘last minute, low-cost solution’ but there is also a feeling they have revealed that interest to put pressure on Inter to sell Martínez.
It leaves the Arsenal star somewhat stuck between both clubs, with Inter keeping him ‘warm’ so they are not caught unaware if Martínez leaves and Barcelona reserving him as a backup option if they can’t get the striker they really want.
