Conte can forget flop who's "not a champion" by launching Spurs bid for £70m "machine" - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is prioritising a move for Lautaro Martinez ahead of Paulo Dybala in the summer transfer window.

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Tuttosport (via Sport Witness), who claim that the Spurs manager has decided the Inter Milan centre-forward is his preferred target at the end of the current campaign, with the 52-year-old said to have shelved his interest in a move for the soon to be out of contract Juventus forward as a result.

While it is true that a move for Dybala would more than likely be the cheaper option of the two signings, it is not difficult to understand why Conte would prefer to land Martinez ahead of the Juventus playmaker.

Firstly, the £63m-rated striker and the Tottenham boss already have a relationship, with the 24-year-old having scored an extremely impressive 40 goals and registered 19 assists over his 97 appearances under Conte at Inter Milan.

Secondly, 17 of these goals and ten of these assists came in the Nerazzurri’s Scudetto-winning campaign last time out, with the €125k-per-week (£105k-per-week) forward proving to be a key player in the Italian’s first-team squad.

Indeed, over the Argentina international’s 38 league outings in 2020/21, the player who Roberto Rojas dubbed an “absolute goal machine” averaged an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.17, ranking him as the Inter’s third-best player.

Furthermore, Tottenham’s need for a new centre-forward is much greater than their need for another attacking midfielder or winger, as, should the £220k-per-week Dybala indeed go on to join Spurs, he would be fighting with the likes of Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn for a starting spot in Conte’s side.

Lastl