Serie A leading scorer Lautaro Martinez returns to action with Inter today after the international break and Richard Hall explains how the Nerazzurri star has become a dressing-room leader at the Stadio Meazza and one of the best strikers in the world.
Diego Milito spoke in glowing terms about Lautaro Martinez back in the summer, calling El Toro a ‘point of reference for Inter.’ El Principe has been following Lautaro’s steady development since they were teammates at Racing Club, where, in 2015, Lautaro made his senior debut as a substitute replacing the legendary Nerazzurri striker.
Since his arrival at Inter, Lautaro’s humility, professionalism and leadership have grown alongside his technical development. He has been an understudy, partner and target man, but now he has started to look like he could move into the station of words we use too often: elite and world-class.
What we have to understand about Lautaro is that he hasn’t always been like this. When he first arrived he was lucky to be taken under the wing of the South American contingent. Let us not forget that the great hope for him was to become the ideal No.10 to Mauro Icardi, the classic No.9. At the risk of upsetting every Inter fan on the planet, we need to look back and accept one thing: Mauro was an exceptional striker and he helped his compatriot immensely, especially when it came to settling in.
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Forget the agent, the social media and all the noise surrounding the striker now based in Turkey. Icardi was exceptional at one thing, scoring goals, and it was here that his friendship with Lautaro and the way he taught him to be clinical were forged. Now Inter are seeing the benefits but Icardi wasn’t the only one to help.
Playing deeper, just behind Icardi saw Lautaro learn how to come from deep and be later into the play and the box. We still see this in his game today and whilst he has managed to be as clinical as Mauro in front of the goal, it is easy to see he has more to his game.
This ability was amplified when Antonio Conte arrived at the Stadio Meazza. Under the Italian tactician, Lautaro could use his pace and attack from deep and, last but not least, he found a perfect strike partner. For the second time in this article, I shall try to explain myself before infuriating Inter fans again. It can’t be denied that Romelu Lukaku also had a significant influence on Lautaro’s career. In the Belgian, Lautaro found a forward he perfectly connected with. A completely different type of player than Icardi, but along with Lukaku, they terrorised defences with their pace and power, leading Inter to a title-winning campaign in 2020-21.
Here comes the supreme credit for Lautaro. It would be easy to say that his relationship with Romelu was unique, but it wasn’t. He had a fantastic understanding with Icardi too. This is the point. There is not a striker struggling to play with Lautaro. This comes back to his humble nature and the fact he puts the team before himself. Well, at least until now. The way he is evolving is quite incredible. From being an apprentice with Mauro to co-host with Romelu, he has now taken on the mantle of being the number one and for the opposition, that is scary.
The current Serie A leading scorer has already netted 10 times in eight league matches. With Champions League games, the tally rises to 11 goals in 10 appearances across all competitions. These figures and his maturity – he was also named Inter captain at the beginning of the season – allow us to talk about him in those cloudy words like ‘world-class’ and ‘elite’.
- Read more – Marotta: ‘Lautaro Martinez is Messi of Inter’
Loyal, humble, deadly, as strong as a bull – no coincidence his nickname is El Toro – and just as determined. Lautaro is starting to make the world question that he isn’t just good, he is setting the level. Inter resume their Serie A campaign after the international break with a tough away game at Torino on Saturday and Lautaro will be their obvious point of reference up front, whether he starts – as expected – or not. The last time he was introduced from the bench, he scored four goals in 27 minutes against Salernitana, so it’s evident he can make the difference at all times. Inter will need more of the same to earn the second star this season and let Lautaro lift his first trophy as the team’s captain, crowning his stunning development on and off the pitch.
@RichHall80