Inter Milan are desperate to sell former captain Mauro Icardi, but they don’t want to sell him to domestic rival.
Which is why when Inter sent Icardi on loan to PSG last summer, they included a clause that if PSG purchased Icardi and then immediately sold him to another Serie A club, that Inter would receive an additional €15m.
To take Icardi on loan, PSG paid a €13m loan fee and covered his wages. Icardi for his part settled in well in Lique 1, scoring 20 goals and adding four assists in 31 competitive games.
Despite that, his wife/agent Wanda Nara reportedly told PSG that the striker had no intention in making the deal permanent and that he wanted to return to Serie A.
According to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper, Inter included a clause in the contract meaning that if PSG activate their purchase option and then sell Icardi on to a different Italian club, they’ll pay a €15m ‘fine’ to the Nerazzurri.
So along with the €13m loan fee, the €70m purchase option and €15m on top, selling Icardi to Juventus means Paris Saint-Germain would’ve spent €98m.
Even for a club as rich as PSG, that is a lot of money to pay for a player who is not going to play for you. And that you are not getting back in transfer fees as Juve don’t have that kind of cash. In an attempt to lower the cash involved in any deal Juventus are offering PSG Miralem Pjanic, Douglas Costa, Alex Sandro or Mattia De Sciglio in a bid to lower the cost.
The extra €15m would also have to be paid if another Serie A side such as Napoli were to sign Icardi.
Smart business move by Inter who do not want Icardi to go to bitter rivals Juventus. But are they also making it more difficult on themselves to sell Icardi, a player they don’t want? If he only wants to play in Serie A, and Inter make that prohibitively expensive, then they are at a stalemate where Icardi holds all the power.
