It’s something that the don’t want to do. But on Friday Inter will sit down with Wanda Nara, nee Icardi, to discuss an improved contract for the Inter captain.
The Nerazzurri captain has been heavily linked with a move away from the Giuseppe Meazza San Siro all club, with the club having already rejected offers from Serie A rivals Juventus and Napoli.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is convinced that Icardi is the only person who can replace Gonzalo Higuaín in the Partenopei, and Inter have already turned down multiple bids from ADL.
Media reports suggest that Napoli will return with another bid in excess of €60m, but if Inter are scheduling contract talks with Wanda, that would suggest that the Nerazzurri will turn down that offer as well.
As well they should. If Real Madrid want €75m for Álvaro Morata, and Everton want £72m for Roman Lakaku, what is the value of the deadliest striker in Serie A who happens to be just 23-year-old also? My feeling is that number has a 7 in front of it, not a 6.
But just because Inter and Wanda are talking does not mean that all is well at Inter. Both Arsenal and Napoli have offered to more than double Icardi’s current €3.2m a year salary to €7m.
Inter are suggesting that they are willing to increase Icardi’s wages to around €4m, a nice pay raise but nowhere near what Icardi is worth in today’s market. The Icardi’s like Milan and might give Inter a small home-town discount, but not one worth €3m a year for 5 years.
If talks don’t go well on Friday, I would not be surprised to see Mauro Icardi hand in a transfer request to either force a sale to Napoli or Arsenal, or force Inter to meeting his wage demands.
What do you think happens with Icardi? Is he still Inter captain when the transfer window closes?