Inter Milan chief Piero Ausilio has revealed how close they were to losing Lautaro Martinez.

The Argentina striker joined Inter from Racing Club, but only after a move to Atletico Madrid stalled.

Ausilio told Radio Serie A: “It was a special story: in fact, he was already an Atlético de Madrid player. We took a plane to risk our 1% with the risk of making a fool of ourselves, but it was a crazy four days.

"The only thing missing was the last agreement between the player and Atleti, there was a clause that the player did not want and we did a great team job."

The help of two Inter legends was decisive.

“Javier Zanetti worked with his agent," says Ausilio, “and (Diego) Milito with the very tough president of the Racing Club."

When everything was closed, in addition, Lautaro decided to complicate the operation with a great game.

“It was a disaster, because he scored three goals and forced a penalty that night. We had to sit down again and paid more, but we managed to take him home."