Lautaro Martinez 'would take Spurs to a different level', former Lilywhites goalkeeper Paul Robinson says. 

The lowdown

Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sempre Inter) named Spurs alongside Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona as one of the main candidates to sign Inter Milan striker Martinez this summer.

They claim that the North London outfit have expressed a concrete interest in the 24-year-old in recent weeks. Inter have apparently set an asking price of between €60million (£49.7million) and €70million (£58million) for the Argentine.

Spurs, then, could break their existing transfer record - the £54million they paid to sign Tanguy Ndombele in 2019 - in order to land Martinez.

Antonio Conte worked with the forward at the San Siro between 2019 and 2021.

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-copy/" title="Tottenham latest developments!" poster="" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

The latest

Speaking to Football Insider, Robinson, a regular pundit on Sky Sports who played for Tottenham between 2004 and 2008, expressed at his excitement at the prospect of landing the 'amazing' Martinez.

He believes it could give Antonio Conte a similar luxury to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

"I think he would take Spurs to a different level," he said. "He's an amazing player."

"Spurs have a great front three but they cannot play every week. Jurgen Klopp has found that out with his front three. He has five players in rotation for those positions.

"As well as Spurs' front three are doing at the moment they cannot play every game. It is a squad game now more than ever."

The verdict

Conte will surely have fond memories of Martinez, whose 17 league goals helped propel Inter to the Serie A title last season - the player himself has credited Conte with changing his 'mentality' and helping him to 'grow'.

Off the back of their success, Martinez finished joint-21st in the 2021 Ballon D'Or voting, alongside Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes.

There's no doubt, then, that he's an elite forward and potentially a blockbuster addition to the Spurs squad.

Conte used a 3-5-2 shape at Inter to accommodate both Martinez and Romelu Lukaku, but doing the same at Spurs could see Heung-min Son left out. It would be a dilemma for the manager, but as Robinson notes, the level of depth would be enviable.

In other news, Dean Jones shares a left-field James Maddison development concerning THFC.