Mauro Icardi profile: How the Chelsea target put controversy behind him to become Serie A's deadliest young striker

 
Crowd favourite: Icardi celebrates after Inter beat Roma
Marco Luzzan
Tom Collomosse9 May 2015

The best young striker in Italy has little interest in football and was involved in a public love triangle that would not look out of place in an episode of Neighbours.

Meet Chelsea target Mauro Icardi, the Inter Milan forward who, when a youth player at Barcelona, would stay in his room watching films rather than head to the Nou Camp to watch the superstars he was trying to emulate. Asked recently how Inter’s city rivals, AC Milan, had performed in their latest match, Icardi replied: “I don’t follow Serie A.”

Icardi’s unusual attitude to his profession makes his stand out. As do his goals – 23 this season in a struggling Inter side. Yet if you ask an Italian fan to discuss Icardi, do not be surprised if they talk more about his relationships with Maxi Lopez and Wanda Nara than they do about his football.

When Icardi joined Sampdoria in 2011, he became friends with team-mate and fellow Argentine Lopez, and Nara, who was then Lopez’s wife. Fast forward four years, and Icardi and Nara are married with a child. Icardi is only 22 but is described by his new wife as “a 40-year-old trapped inside a 20-year-old’s body.”

Deploying beautiful understatement, Icardi described the situation as “odd”. Lopez’s views on the matter are a little more strident, and it is safe to say he and Icardi are no longer friends. Certainly Lopez – now with Torino – refuses to shake his hand when their teams meet.

Many foreign players struggle to adapt to the demands of English football. Icardi’s eventful background suggests he would take the move in his stride. Fearful of the economic situation in Argentina, the family moved to the Canary Islands when Mauro was only nine.

He joined the Barcelona youth set-up in 2008 and moved to Sampdoria three years later. Despite failing to make the breakthrough at the Nou Camp, Icardi quickly showed his ability in Serie A, averaging a goal every three games for Samp before joining Inter two years ago. For his new club, he scores virtually every other game.

Icardi is quick, powerful and finishes accurately. No wonder he was sought by Italy, for whom he would qualify through his family. Icardi turned them down, saying he could imagine playing only for Argentina. He made his debut for them in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay in October 2013, his only senior cap to date.

Since Roberto Mancini returned for a second spell as Inter coach, he has encouraged Icardi to become a modern forward, rather than merely a goalscorer. His work rate has improved considerably and, according to whoscored.com, he has directly contributed to nearly half of Inter’s goals this term.

Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

The signs are that Mancini’s message is getting through. Whereas in his first season at Sampdoria only 66 per cent of his passes found their target, Icardi has pushed that figure to nearly 75 per cent this season.

He has learned a great deal, too, from his compatriot Rodrigo Palacio, an intelligent player with an inexhaustible appetite for running. If he is to work with Jose Mourinho, Icardi will make no progress without that level of diligence.

He will also require the forceful personality that has helped him make it this far. On the end of a tongue-lashing from Dani Osvaldo, then an Inter team-mate, in a game at Juventus, Icardi responded with the air of a man who could not have cared less.

Faced with a penalty to earn his side a draw at Napoli, Icardi – ignoring the lasers shone in his eyes by the home fans – simply chipped the ball down the middle. It looked risky, but it took serious strength of mind – a quality Icardi believes he has always possessed.

“Since I was 10, I’ve been mature for my age,” Icardi revealed. “My friends’ mothers always said so, and credit for that goes to my own mother, who let me find out about life for myself. She didn’t try to tell me it was like a fairytale.

“My parents eventually divorced, but it didn’t bother me. I had grown up and I was playing for Sampdoria. Sometimes I called him, sometimes I called her. That was it.”

In pictures: Chelsea celebrate title triumph

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As reported by Standard Sport this week, Inter are desperate for Icardi to sign a new contract worth £38,000-a-week after tax but the longer Icardi delays, the more optimistic Chelsea will grow. And from a man who claims not to be interested in football, Blues fans might be encouraged by these words.

“Who is Chelsea’s goalkeeper? I know that. I’m not an idiot,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Before too long, it might not be only Thibaut Courtois’ name that Icardi has to memorise.

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