Mauro Icardi’s future at Inter Milan has been thrown into severe doubt as the club have confirmed that goalkeeper Samir Handanovic has replaced the Argentine as captain. Icardi has been at the club for almost five years now and a loyal servant to Inter, but the club and player have come to an impasse over his current contract situation.
Recently Inter boss Luciano Spalletti said: “Mauro is evidently seeing his performance affected by some situations that have been going on recently.
“He needs to free himself from the talk that is around him. The directors agreed to start talking about the contract, so now they need to go there and conclude it."
Icardi is already one of Inter’s highest earners and with over two years left on his current deal seems to be in a strong position for the negotiations. Icardi’s agent and wife Wanda Nara seems to be in charge of these negotiations as they both look to seek an extension to his current deal.
But the stripping of the captaincy could be a turning point in these negotiations. Inter have clearly become frustrated with the situation and are perhaps showing that they are prepared to let their former captain leave the club in the summer.
That is where Manchester United come into play. Icardi was one of their main transfer targets under old boss Jose Mourinho and they also were interested in another Inter player, Ivan Perisic. Icardi also was the subject of interest from Liverpool in the summer as the odds were slashed for him to join Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Alas, both of those moves never materialised but the English giants could come back in for the striker with this latest development. Although Rashford is performing well down the middle at Old Trafford, United fans would love to welcome Icardi to the club, with Romelu Lukaku flopping.
Meanwhile, Liverpool could do with a central striker if they continue with the 4-2-3-1 system, as Roberto Firmino plays well in the number ten role. Mo Salah has been playing centrally for several games this season but he does his best work in wide areas.
This is certainly an interesting development in this transfer and one that could lead to the biggest transfers of the summer.
