Lautaro has quality required to team up with Messi at Barca, says Diego Milito

Inter striker Lautaro Martinez has the quality required to team up with Lionel Messi at Barcelona, says Diego Milito.

Martinez has been heavily linked with a switch to Barca after striking up a formidable partnership with Romelu Lukaku at Inter this season, scoring 16 goals in all competitions.

The Catalan giants' head coach Quique Setien last week talked up the Nerazzurri star and said the chance to play alongside Messi is "a huge incentive" for any player.

Milito, who was part of Inter's treble-winning side of 2009-10, was appointed as the technical secretary at Racing Club in December 2017, just over six months prior to Martinez's departure for San Siro.

The former striker believes Martinez has established himself as a top-level player and would be capable of meeting requirements at Camp Nou.

"He is not at Inter because of me, but because he is a great player," Milito said in an interview with Movistar. "I think he's fine at Inter, but of course he has great conditions for Barca and playing with Messi.

"He is a very complete player who is doing great at Inter. The truth is that I don't know what will happen. I hear there are many rumours."

Martinez started four games alongside Messi as Argentina reached the semi-finals of the Copa America last year.

He has also been backed to succeed at Barca by Argentina's Olympic coach Fernando Batista, who thinks the Inter star would "easily adapt" to playing for the La Liga giants and would also form a dangerous partnership with Luis Suarez.

“It would be a great concern for rival defenders. Then, of course, there is the idea of the coach," he told Mundo Deportivo.

"If you want to play 4-3-3, there would be room only for one of the two, but with those two beasts up top, he would have a great advantage. This would also give [Lionel] Messi more options to pass, who now comes a little further back. I would not hesitate: I would play with Suarez and Lautaro together.

“Those who play well and are smart can do it. So Suarez and Lautaro could play together without problems. An example is found today at Inter. Lautaro coexists with Lukaku without problems. They have similar characteristics and both stand out. When one goes through the middle, the other goes out to the band. They do not overlap."