Don't make Lionel Messi look like a fool! Lautaro Martinez was billed as potential Ballon d'Or winner by his Argentina captain - but patchy Inter form shows he's miles off challenging Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah & the rest

In May of this year, Lautaro was asked if he believes he ranks among the very best forwards in the game today, alongside superstars such as Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski.

"Yes," he told the Gazzetta dello Sport, "I have nothing to envy. The numbers and the trophies say it: there are champions who have won less than me. I have to continue to work responsibly, as my father taught me, but I can sit at the same table as these greats."

And yet even after the best year of his professional career, Lautaro still isn't getting the credit he feels he deserves and that's inevitably hurt him, as it was clear during the run-up to the Ballon d'Or ceremony that the Argentine was excited by the prospect of being recognised for finishing as the Capocannoniere during Italy's historic 20th Italian title triumph before then collecting the Golden Boot at the Copa America in the United States.

"I always work hard to help the team, but individual awards mean a lot too, as they show you are working well," he admitted to DAZN.

It was hardly a shock, then, to see Lautaro react so bitterly to finishing behind not only Vinicius (second), arguably the biggest disappointment during Brazil's calamitous Copa America campaign, but also Erling Haaland (fifth), whose limitations as a player were exposed last season, and Kylian Mbappe (sixth), a player plagued by mental and physical problems since flopping for France at Euro 2024.

"[Seventh] is a position that I can improve, but honestly I expected more," Lautaro told DAZN. "At the end of the day, though, I work for Inter and for Argentina - and sometimes these awards are not always assigned fairly anyway..."

There's certainly no denying that the Ballon d'Or has a long history of ridiculous results but Lautaro's hardly entitled to feel anywhere near as aggrieved as the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery and Thierry Henry.

Lautaro was undeniably integral to Inter claiming their second star last season. He hit a career-high 24 goals in 33 Serie A appearances - which is one of the main reasons why the Nerazzurri were able to wrap up the Scudetto with five games to go by beating city rivals AC Milan at San Siro.

His form is made all the more impressive for the fact that he was significantly hindered by a persistent ankle problem during his club's title-winning campaign.

"I was on the verge of having an operation," the Inter captain revealed in July. "My ankle made me suffer a lot. I was playing with injections because I was in a lot of pain. But I gritted my teeth and got to the end of the season."

Then, perhaps even more impressively, he played a starring role in last summer's Copa America.

For Lautaro, the 2022 World Cup had been a tournament of mixed emotions. It ended in glory for Argentina and he had played his part, converting the decisive spot-kick in the quarter-final shootout win over Netherlands.

However, the centre-forward didn't net once from open play and was completely overshadowed by Julian Alvarez, who took Lautaro's starting spot after the embarrassing opening-round loss to Saudi Arabia and never looked back.

"When the World Cup ended and I received the gold medal I was very happy with what we had achieved," Lautaro subsequently explained, "but, personally, I knew I was in debt, because my ankle didn't allow me to do what I wanted."

Consequently, Lautaro felt as if he had paid his dues when he fired home his fifth goal at the 2024 Copa America - in the 112nd minute of the final win over Colombia.

"Of course, it's not the same as a World Cup," he acknowledged, "but I can say that I prepared myself as best I could to face this competition and remove this thorn from my side."

The one issue for Lautaro in an otherwise fantastic 2024 is that he's experienced something of a role reversal for club and country over the past six or seven months.

Whereas previously he was struggling to score for Argentina, now he is finding goals harder to come by for Inter, with Marcus Thuram currently carrying the Nerazzurri's attack.

The France forward has hit 10 goals in Serie A so far this season; Lautaro has managed just six since the end of February, while he's only scored one Champions League goal all year. As our colleagues at GOAL Italia recently wrote, "Robin has become Batman - and vice versa."

Lautaro has, of course, endured - and overcome - some worrying dry spells in the past, which is obviously testament to his resilience and work-rate, and it would not be a surprise to see him end his drought in Monday's massive Serie A showdown with high-flying Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.

However, even though Lautaro's poor form can be partially attributed to fatigue following last season's heroics, it also helps explain why the perception persists that he's the streakiest of strikers operating at the very highest level in Europe.

Even some (supposed) Inter fans get frustrated with a center-forward that has now gone nearly six weeks without scoring and has never hit more than 28 goals across a single club campaign.

During the most recent international break, Lautaro posted a picture of himself on Argentina duty and took serious exception to a supporter commenting, "Remember the club that pays you good money."

Lautaro replied, "You should also remember that I’ve always given my all for Inter, like in the World Cup season.

"My ankle was destroyed, and while others prepared for a great World Cup, I was always on the pitch and never missed a training session.

"I played all the games until the Champions League Final. ALWAYS remember it before mentioning who pays me."

In that sense, Lautaro is right: he deserves more respect for everything he's achieved for club and country over the past couple of seasons. He's won a Copa America for Argentina and sits seventh on the list of Inter's all-time leading goalscorers.

But if he really wants a seat at the same table as Mbappe, Haaland and Lewandowski, great consistency is clearly required - because too often with Lautaro, it's either a feast or a famine.