Anonymous Inter Player: “We Didn’t Want Spalletti To Strip Icardi Of His Captaincy”

The decision to remove the captain’s armband was Luciano Spalletti’s, following the advice from the players in the dressing room, has been the official line that inter have taken when speaking about the Icardi situation.

But an Inter player, who has asked to be anonymous, has told La Repubblica, that nothing could be further from the truth.

“None of us asked him to do that. The locker room is divided into three camps: the Italian, South American and Slavic camps. Mauro has good relations with everyone except for Perisic, Brozovic and Handanovic. The same cannot be said of Spalletti, the Balkanization of Inter is an ongoing process that is irreversible.”

The Icardi case broke out after conflicts with Nainggolan and Perisic and as La Repubblica reported earlier, the Belgian started to behave in an unprofessional manner in order to be sent back to AS Roma and Perisic wanted to move to the Premier League.

The Nainggolan situation was immediately resolved while an ultimatum came from Perisic: “It’s either me or Icardi” that’s why, shortly after, Wanda Nara decide to comment on the case, something that backfired and resulted in Icardi being stripped from the captain’s armband.

“Icardi was annoyed by the tone used by Spalletti to comment on his teammates and asked him to tone the criticism down. Also because we came from a victory and there was no need to be that hysterical” – the Inter player tells La Repubblica.

“The reaction was exaggerated, and when the armband was stripped off of him it was shameful for Icardi and for that reason he often sent messages to the club, underlining his 97.5% punctual presence at training, being always punctual, demonstrating his professionalism. But that didn’t make a difference for Spalletti who already had made up his mind. And the club, currently in lock down for the Champions League race, does not have the strength to intervene.”

In this context, according to La Repubblica, there is also the role of Piero Ausilio – with strong links to the Balkan clan and marked by the sale of Zaniolo, who currently is in the process of rebuilding the team after the arrival of Marotta.

Ausilio wants the Icardi-Dybala swap, something that Marotta is not convinced of and for every minute that passes, the Icardi situation gets more and more chaotic.

At the same time, Steven Zhang would like to take Icardi back and Icardi has his support and the main character himself is almost convinced to return without the captain’s armband, just for the sake of the Inter jersey.