The athlete is at the best moment of his career

Lautaro Javier Martínez is a professional soccer player born in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 22, 1997. Since he was a child, Martínez was inclined towards this sport with the motivation and example of his father, Mario "Pelusa" Martínez, who was 1972 category and played for five seasons in the National B (with the shirt of Villa Miter) and other thirteen in the Argentine Tournament in Villa Miter, Rosario Puerto Belgrano (Punta Alta), Racing Olavarría and Liniers (Bahía Blanca) .

The beginnings of Lautaro Martínez in soccer were in the Atlético Liniers club, from his hometown Bahia Blanca.

At 15, he was scouted by the Boca Juniors club, but decided that Martinez was not up to par to play for their team; a year later, Racing signed him to start the preseason in January 2014, after Fabio Radaelli, the club's coordinator, saw him play in the U17 national team of the Southern League.

In the academy, he managed to score 26 goals in 26 matches in the Sixth Division, which made him reach the Reserve in 2015.

During his time in the Reserve, he continued his scoring run, so he had the opportunity to debut on October 31st, 2015 on the 29th date of the First Division Championship against Crucero del Norte, replacing the idol Diego Milito.

His good performances, both in the local championship and in the South American U-20 of 2017 and the Alcudia International Tournament, in which he stood out as the top scorer and the best player of the tournament, led to great clubs like Real Madrid, Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan to show interest in signing the soon to be star. 

Julio Olarticoechea summoned the player to train with the U-20 team before the U-20 Soccer World Cup in 2017. On January 3rd, 2017, Claudio Ubeda confirmed the participation of Martinez in the South American championship based in Ecuador.

Due to his great performances with the Academy, he has been linked to the Milan Inter. According to market rumors, the representatives of player Rolando Zárate and Beto Yaqué have met with the Italian club to agree on a possible transfer of the player; the operation would be of around $33 million dollars, although it has not been made official.

Lautaro Martinez promised to stay in Racing until June 2018 so, if the sale is completed, the player would arrive at the neroazzurro club after the World Cup.

With 20 years of age, Lautaro Martinez is in the best moment of his professional career and is considered the best appearance of Argentine soccer since Sergio "El Kun" Agüero. In the 2017-2018 season he played a total of 12 games, 11 in the local tournament, where he scored seven goals and in his debut on Tuesday, February 27th, 2018, in the Copa Libertadores scored a hat-trick in the victory of Racing 4-2 against Cruzeiro.

Latin American Post | Andrea Rojas

Translated from "¿Quién es Lautaro Martínez?"