Lautaro Martinez was tempted to leave Inter and will ‘disappear’ after retirement

Inter captain Lautaro Martinez admits he was tempted to leave the Nerazzurri after the 2025 Club World Cup and reveals he will ‘disappear’ after retirement: ‘Football is an environment I don’t like. You won’t hear about me anymore.’

Inter captain Lautaro Martinez released a long interview with Gazzetta dello Sport after celebrating the domestic double with the Nerazzurri.

Inter won the Scudetto and Coppa Italia this season and celebrated their trophies with a parade in the streets of Milan on Sunday.

The Nerazzurri have taken revenge after a disappointing 2024-25 season, in which they finished as Serie A runners-up and lost the Champions League Final 5-0 against PSG.

After their elimination from the Club World Cup in the summer, Lautaro hit out at teammates who wanted to leave, urging them to find a new club if they no longer had the motivation to stay.

“I wanted to share what I saw in the locker room. I had to do it as a captain,” he said.

“Then I went on vacation, and for three weeks, I didn’t train; I just ate. In fact, when I came back, I weighed a little more…

“Speaking in public made noise. But I also had it in for myself, because I was not blameless. Then [Cristian] Chivu gave us a hand, bringing fresh air without taking anything away from Simone [Inzaghi], who made us live four wonderful years.”

Lautaro has been seeing a psychologist for a few years now, and his development on the pitch is also due to the mental work he does behind the scenes.

“I had so many personal problems, especially off the field, before my daughter was born,” he admitted.

“And therapy helped me, for example, in managing moments when I didn’t score goals. Sometimes I doubted myself, whether I was still capable of playing football, whether I deserved to be Inter’s No.10.

“Think about where the human mind can go. There, I realised that I needed support, because I was crawling into a tunnel. Even today, I continue to be followed by the society psychologist. He supported me during the 46 days of injury, which were not easy.”

Did he fear facing the same problems after last season?

“After the [Champions League] Final no, after the Club World Cup, yes. I thought about many things, and I suffered a lot. I’m not saying I asked to leave, but inside I felt that if an important offer had come in, then maybe… I was devastated.

“From that state of mind was born the interview that followed the elimination against Fluminense. I went out, put on my shirt and said what I thought.”

Lautaro is under contract with Inter until 2029 and would love to end his career at the Stadio Meazza.

“Surely, I’d love to. I still don’t have the keys to Appiano Gentile, but I’m almost there,” he said.

“My family and I are happy. We own a restaurant, and the kids go to school and have their friends. It’s hard for me to see myself elsewhere. In football, you never know, but if they don’t send me away, I’ll stay here.”

Lautaro immediately established contact with Chivu when the ex-defender was appointed as the new coach before the Club World Cup.

“I called him right away. I had no doubt he would do very well,” the striker said.

“I knew him from the matches we played in Appiano against his Primavera: he seemed predestined.”

Inter were eliminated from the Champions League knockout play-off by Bodo/Glimt this season. Somehow, has the elimination helped them to secure the domestic double?

“No, because I wanted to move forward in Europe. It wasn’t an advantage,” Lautaro said.

“Maybe by playing less you have more energy, but if you fight on every front, you always have the right mentality for the matches.”

Lautaro is the Serie A leading scorer, and the strike partnership with Lautaro is probably the best in Serie A.

“Marcus and I understood each other little by little. He’s a cheerful, special boy,” Lautaro said.

“I’m the serious one. We complete ourselves, even in the characters.”

Lautaro went on to talk about the upcoming World Cup and how he grew up in Argentina.

“I’ve prepared to get there [the World Cup] in the best shape possible,” he said.

“My father and my mother have arrived in time for Inter’s celebrations. They won’t come to the World Cup because they have to work, but they were happy to participate in Inter’s successes.

“My father was a footballer, and when he became a pro and reached the second division, he left his job as an aircraft mechanic at the naval base in Bahia Blanca. But the team got relegated, and there wasn’t much money to support a family. He reinvented himself as a nurse for older people, while my mother began earning a few pennies as a housekeeper. But we were three brothers, and money at home was never enough.

“Certain feelings made me improve as a man. I’ve learned humility from my parents, and I’m passing that respect on to my sons,” continued Lautaro.

“I used to go to my father’s team’s training sessions, and on matchdays I would hide in the dressing room to hear his speeches, as he was the captain.”

Perhaps those leadership skills helped him become the Inter captain as well.

“It’s something you have inside; you don’t train it. You must have leadership and personality,” said the 28-year-old.

“And set the example. But a captain is nothing without a group. I can only say Inter have a fantastic one, because everyone has a winning mentality.

“At 13, I also played basketball, because it’s a popular sport in Bahia Blanca: my brother Jano is a point guard in Serie A for Ferro Carril. At 15, however, I went to Racing, and my father asked me to choose. But there wasn’t much to decide; I was more suited to football.”