Former Lazio striker Igor Protti admits he's a fan of Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martinez.

Protti was asked if Lautaro plays similarly to him.

He told TvPlay: "Every footballer has his own characteristics and I always find comparisons a little unpleasant both in one sense and another. I'm just saying that a few years ago a journalist from Bari, when Lautaro Martinez arrived at Inter, told me 'Igor, I look at Lautaro and he reminds me of you'.

"This with all due respect for a great champion that we all see what he's doing, I don't want to place myself as his equal, but it's a journalist who said it and I trust him enough. Honestly, in terms of physical characteristics and movements on the pitch we're quite close, he's a centre forward but he likes to go around to other different central strikers as I liked and he scores goals in almost every way.

"He's a great champion, he scores many goals and is an absolute point of reference. When we talk about champions, perhaps one has in his imagination the attacking midfielder who is very technically strong. In the past there were many of them and today fewer, because it is a role that at youth sector has often been penalised, because the kids are told to do simple things and not take risks but I don't agree at all.

"We need to go back to telling the kids to try the plays, skip the opponent and not just play one or two touches or who always have someone's help. (Erling) Haaland and Lautaro would be a perfect attacking duo and it would be nice to see them play together."