Daily Times

MILAN: Inter Milan forward Mauro Icardi, his club’s leading scorer in each of the last five seasons and former captain, is set to join Paris St Germain, the Gazzetta dello Sport and other Italian media said Monday. The move would end a turbulent spell at the club for the Argentine, who has fallen out with fans along on the way and provided fodder for the gossip columns thanks to his marriage to Wanda Nara, a media personality who also acts as his agent. Gazzetta published what it said was a photograph of Icardi and Nara at Malpensa airport, saying would board a private jet for Paris to finalise a loan spell at PSG with an option to buy. Other Italian media carried the same story, including Sky Sport Italia. The 26-year-old, an out-and-out centre forward who is deadly in the penalty area but whose contribution elsewhere on the pitch has been questioned, has scored 124 goals in 219 appearances in all competitions during six years at the club. Despite his scoring exploits, Icardi fell out with Inter’s hard core fans over an account of an argument with supporters in his autobiography in 2016. Curva Nord ultras responded that “Icardi is not our captain, not now or ever” and applauded when he missed a penalty in one of Inter’s next games.

In February, he was stripped of the captaincy after becoming embroiled in protracted negotiations over a new contract. He then said he could not play because of a knee injury although the club said a medical exam had found nothing wrong. He returned to the side in April after talks between his lawyer and the club, although Luciano Spalletti, the Inter coach at the time, said it had been “humiliating” for Inter to have to negotiate with a player to get him to play. Spalletti left Inter at the end of last season and was replaced by Antonio Conte who said that Icardi did not figure in his plans for the future.