For all the mixed messages that have came out of Inter this summer, the club have been crystal clear on one topic. Captain and top scorer Mauro Icardi is not for sale.
May 31 president Erick Thohir:
“Players like Icardi, Perisic and Miranda are Inter players and we will tell anyone who makes an approach they are not for sale,’ he said.
July 11 sporting director Piero Ausilio:
“Icardi signed a new contract a year ago, we’ve made him our captain and he’s not for sale. Anything else is just talk.”
July 17 Erick Thohir:
“There has also been a lot of talk about Mauro Icardi and I’d like to reiterate what our sporting director Piero Ausilio said just a few days ago: Mauro is a major asset for Inter, he’s our captain and he is not for sale.”
July 21 former President Massimo Moratti:
“I hope that the club will make it so that they can keep him (Icardi), because he’s a great striker. So I’d keep him”.
July 25 Ausillo again
“We had a meeting with Napoli, certainly, but we’re not going to give him to them,” Ausilio told FcInterNews. “It’s not about the money. There’s no negotiation, we’re going to keep Icardi because we mean to reinforce the team and that’s done by keeping the top players.
“I’m not interested in what Napoli are able to offer. Icardi has no clause and Inter don’t mean to sell him, it’s that simple.
Pretty clear isn’t it? But not to the Italian media or Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis who is determined to replace departed striker Gonzalo Higuain with the Inter captain.
ADL and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli are reported to have met someone close to Wanda Icardi (Mauro Icardi ‘s wife and agent) Ion Sunday to offer the Inter captain wages n excess of €5m per season. A big jump from the €3.2m he currently earns here at Inter.
And according to Sky Italia, ADL even offered to through in a cameo for Icardi and Wanda in his next movie! How nice of him.
But the story gets even better. Armed with the €94 million war chest due to the Higuain sale, Napoli have reportedly offered Inter €15m plus Manolo Gabbiadini (who is valued at €25m) for Icardi!
Keep in mind that last week, Inter are said to have turned down a €50m bid from Juventus for Icardi before they closed the Higuain deal.
So while the media build up this story about how interested Napoli are in Icardi, it is clear from their offer that they are more interested in trying to unsettle the Inter captain ahead of the new season than trying to buy him.
