Lautaro Martinez to Barcelona: Why Inter Milan striker is perfect Luis Suarez replacement

Target: Lautaro Martinez
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Barcelona have made Lautaro Martinez one of their top transfer targets.

The 22-year-old Argentine has impressed with Inter Milan since joining in 2018 and has established himself alongside Lionel Messi in the senior international setup.

Barcelona are looking for a long-term replacement for Luis Suarez and see Martinez, who has a €111million (£97m) release clause, as an ideal option .

One of Martinez's agents, Sergio Zarate, said this week that there was a "big chance" his client would move to Barcelona .

So, how would that play out? We loaded up Football Manager 2020 to find out.

Football Manager 2020

As expected, Lautaro Martinez was made to wait for his chance at Barcelona with Luis Suarez the first-choice striker in the squad.

Martinez certainly takes his chances when they came, though, making 24 appearances in total in his first season with Barcelona - 10 of them starts - and scored 11 goals and provided three assists.

The Argentine had to wait until September 25 for his debut, a three-minute cameo in a 3-2 home loss to Real Madrid.

It was another five weeks before he played more than 10 minutes but his turning point came in late November when Suarez was taken off injured against Granada, allowing Martinez to play an hour and score twice in a 3-1 win.

Martinez was afforded his first start in the next game and scored again as RB Leipzig were beaten 2-0 and, from then on, was firmly established himself as Suarez's understudy for the remainder of the season.

The 22-year-old was worth £64m by the end of the season.

Competitions

Football Manager 2020

That early season loss to Real Madrid proved key in the title race as Barcelona finished three points behind their Clasico rivals's 97-point winning tally.

Barcelona reached the final of all other competitions they entered, beating Valencia in the Super Cup final and getting the better of Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-finals to reach another showpiece.

But that's where the good news ends as Atletico Madrid triumphed 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final, which was played at Santiago Bernabeu.

Barcelona beat Premier League rivals Manchester City and Tottenham in the quarter-finals and semi-final, respectively, in the Champions League but Liverpool proved three were too many as the Reds retained the European Cup after a resounding 3-0 win.

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