Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici has revealed the Serie A leaders are interested in Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi.
The Argentine was replaced by goalkeeper Samir Handanovic as captain last week amid contract talks and refused to travel for their Europa League victory at Rapid Vienna a day later.
The club subsequently announced Icardi would miss the visit of Sampdoria on Sunday through injury and the 25-year-old watched his team-mates secure a 2-1 win from the stands.
Icardi’s current deal at the San Siro runs out in the summer of 2021 and Serie A rivals Juventus have made an initial enquiry.
‘We asked for info. We wanted to know what Icardi thinks about playing for Juve,’ Paratici told Rai Radio 1.
‘But now there are no contacts, he’s an Inter player and we are thinking about our season.
‘Lately there has been no contact, we are in February, he is an Inter player and we have important races ahead of us. It’s a theme that we will come back to, or not, in June.’
Icardi has scored 15 goals and contributed three assists in 28 appearances for Inter this campaign.
Following the win over Sampdoria, manager Luciano Spalletti had a message for his star forward.
‘I very much appreciated that he was in the stadium and I would’ve appreciated it even more if he had come into the dressing room afterwards to celebrate with us as it was a very important victory for the team and he is part of this group,’ he told Italian broadcasters.
‘There are more steps to be made, which are for him to come to the dressing room, to enjoy being a part of this very good group, to relish wearing the glorious jersey of a club like Inter, that sort of thing.’
Inter Milan’s Chinese owner have been very stubborn in refusing to sell their best players since buying the club. I cannot envision a scenario where they sell their best player to the club’s most hated rival.
