Mauro Icardi’s time with Inter wasn’t as bad as it seemed, regardless of the drama with the club. In his six seasons with the club, he established himself as an elite striker and, unfortunately, the forward had issues in his last season.

It was a difficult summer for Inter to find Icardi a new team, yet the club was able to send him on loan to Paris Saint Germain right before the transfer market had closed.

The striker started his early career with Vecindario in Gran Canaria, scoring over 500 goals in their youth categories. In 2007, he signed his first big club contract with the youth team of FC Barcelona. Icardi joined the Catalan Club at the start of the 2008-09 season playing with the under 17 youth squad and was promoted to the under 19 team the following season before joining Sampdoria on Loan in January of 2011.

After a successful six-month loan with Sampdoria’s Primavera team, the Rossoblu used the option to buy Icardi and signed him to a three-year deal with the club. Icardi made his first team debut for Sampdoria against Roma on September 26, 2012. In his lone season in Serie A with the first team, Icardi scored 10 goals. After his two seasons with Sampdoria, the striker was purchased by Inter Milan on a transfer fee of 6.5 million euros.

The forward has a strong start with the Neazzuri, scoring 9 goals in his first season and 22 goals in his second season. During his second year, Inter’s captain Andrea Ranocchia had a poor season which led the club to appoint Icardi as their new captain for the following season.

In his first season as captain, Icardi scored 26 goals in all competitions. The Argentine’s most productive season with the club was in 2017-2018 as he scored 29 goals tying with Ciro Immobile for the Capocannoniere. In his six seasons with the club from 2013-2019, the forward established himself as an elite striker, scoring 124 goals in all competitions.

In 2018-2019, his time with Inter began to unravel. While the forward’s time with the club was productive, it will only take a player so far. His leadership on and off the field wasn’t meeting expectations as teammates no longer saw him as a captain. The club and coach mutually agreed it was time for a new leader in the locker room and goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was appointed as his replacement and took over the role.

After being stripped of the arm band, the forward decided to skip the following Europa League game as he did not want to join his team. Although the decision was in the best interest of the club, the forward’s attitude wasn’t great and it created animosity between himself and the club. Throughout the rest of the season, Icardi had limited playing time and was on the bench or watching in the stands.

After the departure of Luciano Spaletti at the end of 2018-2019 season, Inter appointed Antonio Conte as new manager of Inter Milan. As reported by Marca, Antonio Conte explained, “His situation is clear, as were the club. He’s not part of the project. The market is still open and we’re evaluating the players to sell and to sign.”

Before Conte’s time at Inter began, the coach was firm that Icardi wasn’t going to be part of their plans. The coach and management knew it was best for the club to part ways with one of the best strikers to play with Inter.

After a suspenseful summer as to where Mauro Icardi will be playing in the 2019-2020 season, a deal was made right before the transfer market closed. Inter came to an agreement for the striker to leave on loan with Paris Saint Germain, having the option to buy his contract at the end of the season for 70 million Euros. The saga has finally ended for now as we don’t know if the option will be picked up by the French team.

What does this mean for both clubs going forward?

Inter’s 2019-2020 season can continue without any distractions and, while the club lost a good striker up front, they also got rid of a player who caused problems within the dressing room and was primarily focused on himself and not the team. Regardless of how many times he mentioned that he wanted to stay with Inter, the situation was handled poorly between the striker and his agent and caused further friction between them and the team.

Inter has done a good job addressing this issue as they acquired striker Romulo Lukaku and have Sebastian Esposito in the Primavera, who both should help their offense up front.

As for Paris Saint Germain, they received a player who has the talent to make their squad better. Icardi should use this opportunity as a fresh start to prove what he is still worth as he enters into the prime of his career. Edison Cavani has one year left on his contract with PSG and Icardi could be a suitable replacement for the French team if he has a productive year and convinces the team that he is the right player to proceed with.

Regardless of how the future ends up for all parties, all sides will benefit from this acquisition. Inter offloaded a distraction and can now primarily focus on their objectives, while Paris Saint Germain received a striker that will help the club this season.

As for Mauro Icardi, he must now take full advantage of his opportunity as, if he fails, it could be the downfall of his career.

Jerry Mancini

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