Real Madrid Now Have Highly Rated Inter Striker On Their Radar

Written By Onyeka Daniel

It has been an eventful week for young Inter Milan striker, Francesco Pio Esposito after he made his debut in the UEFA Champions League for the former Serie A champions in their 2-0 away win over Ajax and things are about to get more exciting too for him.

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The 20-year-old was able to get his chance in the starting line-up because Lautaro Martinez was unavailable and even if he failed to find the back of the net, his overall performance was enough to get more people talking about him as he recently made his debut for the Italian national team too.

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He spent the last two seasons on loan at Spezia, where he scored 22 goals in 79 matches, while registering three assists. Back at Inter since June, in time to play at the FIFA Club World Cup, the youngster has four appearances for the Nerazzurri, with a goal and an assist apiece to his name.

During the just concluded summer transfer window, there were some enquiries for his signature from different sources but the biggest was from Atalanta, who tried to get in when the Nerazzurri tried to sign Ademola Lookman but we’re firmly rejected as Inter had other plans.

Then later on, current Serie A champions, Napoli also made an approach and according to reports, the Partenopei began to plot a move for the Yong forward after the injury suffered by Romelu Lukaku in pre-season, making him miss almost the whole of this year.

Conte specifically requested Pio Esposito after Lukaku’s injury and he was regarded as a complete centre-forward who perfectly fits what Conte needed and then the club president, Aurelio De Laurentiis reportedly agreed with the idea and was prepared to offer over €40m for the youngster.

However, a move did not materialise as Inter and Christian Chivu decided to keep him alongside Marcus Thuram, Lautaro and summer signing, Ange-Yoan Bonny to form their attack for the 2025-26 season. After being rejected for Esposito, the Neapolitan club eventually settled on Rasmus Hojlund.

As for Esposito, there is a new interested club and this might be a cause for concern for the Beneamata after it was revealed that European giant, Real Madrid have now set their sight on him, seeing him as a top prospect for the future even if there is no cause for immediate concern.

According to reports, Real Madrid’s chief scout, Juni Calafat is always on the lookout for young talents with potential to make it big as he has been key to the club pulling off signings like Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, Arda Guler, Endrick, and most recently, Franco Mastantuono.

As expected, the head scout is already working on identifying potential targets for the future, with AZ Alkmaar’s Kees Smit emerging as an option and now, it appears that another exciting young player has caught the attention of Calafat, Esposito, as revealed by Defensa Central.

Consequently, the Los Blancos are closely following the Inter forward and Calafat has been monitoring him closely and carefully, and his profile is appreciated at the club, thanks to his penalty-box striker profile and he has already scored spectacular goals, with a strong ability to finish crosses.

However, some within the club wants to see the progress of Gonzalo Garcia and the presence of Endrick as competition for the centre-forward position behind Kylian Mbappe before making a move in the market. So, it remains to be seen if any attempt is made to sign Esposito in the near future.

In a related development, Inter have a shockingly impressive record without their captain Lautaro Martinez, not losing in his absence since 2019. According to records, the Nerazzurri have a near-spotless record without their Argentine superstar who is now expected to also skip the upcoming game against Sassuolo.

After returning from international duty with a slight fitness concern, Lautaro played just 45 minutes in the 4-3 Derby d’Italia loss to Juventus at the Allianz Stadium and then was absent from the team against Ajax and despite initial optimism, it looks like he will not recover in time for their next match.

It is now looking likely that he will also miss this weekend game against Sassuolo at the San Siro but there might be no need for the fans to be worried and this is because it has been long since Inter last lost without him as Lautaro has missed 27 games for the Nerazzurri.

He missed some of these games due to injury and others as a result of suspension and in the 27 games, Inter have never lost without their captain, winning 21 of them whilst six have resulted in a draw, which is not bad, considering the fact that they now have worthy backup in the squad.

Read Also: Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta Return Is On The Horizon

The last defeat without Lautaro came in March 2019 against a Lazio side managed by Simone Inzaghi. The forward is back in training but is still training separately from the rest of his teammates, hence it appears to be touch and go as to whether or not he will play against Neroverdi.

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