Lionel Messi is ‘blocking’ Luton Town from making their dream transfer
The Barcelona legend is in line to make his debut in the Leagues Cup against Mexican side Cruz Azul on Friday.
Messi’s move to the United States is a monumental one but Premier League new boys Luton might not be best pleased.
That’s because according to The Sun,the Hatters are pushing hard to sign his new teammate Josef Martinez
The arrival of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami could well prevent Luton Town for pulling off their dream transfer this summer.
Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi was officially announced as Inter’s new marquee signing on Saturday, with the 36-year-old joining on a free transfer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.
Messi is in line to earn a whopping £45 million-a-year as one of Inter’s Designated Players outside of the MLS salary cap and will be unveiled at a special event held at the club’s DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.
The Barcelona legend is in line to make his debut in the Leagues Cup against Mexican side Cruz Azul on Friday.
Messi’s move to the United States is a monumental one but Premier League new boys Luton might not be best pleased.
That’s because according to The Sun,the Hatters are pushing hard to sign his new teammate Josef Martinez.
The Venezuelan forward has emerged as a shock target for Rob Edwards’ side as they look to bolster their attack for the new season in the top flight.
Martinez is valued at £10 million and scored 100 goals in his first 125 MLS games – the fastest player to reach a century in the history of the league.
He joined David Beckham’s franchise last year from Atlanta United, who he helped fire to the MLS Cup and won the league’s MVP award in 2018.
The former Torino and Young Boys man could be tempted with a stint in the Premier League but may find it difficult to turn down the chance to play up front with Messi, arguably the best player of all time.
Martinez, who can play in a number of positions in a front three, has found the net six times in 23 games for Inter, who have now gone 11 games without a win.
Luton Town Set To Offer Huge Fee For Venezuelan Striker Rumour
Transfer speculation, regarding the Hatters, has been a little sparse this weekend.
However, as the media prepared their editions for Sunday morning, one piece of transfer tittle-tattle has caught my eye.
According to The Sun, Luton Town are interested in signing Josef Martinez.
Martinez, 30-years-of-age, is a forward who can play anywhere along the front line and is currently on the books of the MLS club, Inter Miami.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=3840&quality=60)
But this piece of transfer speculation contains the startling suggestion that in order to land the Venezuelan striker, the club are ready to smash their transfer record.
Now, the manner in which the Hatters do deals invariably results, when it comes to the money paid, being declared as undisclosed, but it is believed our current transfer record is circa the £4 million supposedly paid for the Birmingham City player Tahith Chong.
If our source is correct, that figure could, if Luton’s interest is genuine, be blown away with Inter Miami wanting £10 million for a player they only recently signed, in January.
Now that, for us, colossal figure, suggests to me it is a deal that isn’t going to happen, unless the Hatters hierarchy can negotiate a figure that complies with our strict and well policed budgetary control.
Our source also points out that Martinez could be reluctant to leave Inter Miami with the inference he’d love to play alongside the recently recruited Lionel Messi.
Although intrigued by this rumour, on our scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is a certainty, I’d give this a 2, I can’t, for the life of me, see the Hatters paying extortionate fees for players who have no experience of English football let alone the highly demanding and competitive Premier League.
But what are your views on this particular piece of speculation?
Please feel free to air your views in the comment facility beneath this article.
COYH’s
