One of the big stories of Wednesday in the world of football was Inter’s decision to strip Mauro Icardi of the club’s captaincy to give it to Samir Handanovic.
The Argentine then refused to be a part of the Europa League squad to face Rapid Wien on Thursday, leading many to believe this could be the beginning of the end for him at the club.
This means Inter will need another striker in the summer to complement Lautaro Martinez should Icardi leave, and one of their options, according to TuttoMercatoWeb, is Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian has fallen out of favour since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over from José Mourinho at Old Trafford, leaving his future up in the air.
While the Norwegian might not end up being the next permanent manager, the form the club have been in recent week suggests Manchester United will survive just fine without their expensive striker, hence why there’s a possibility he could leave.
The problem for Inter here is the price Ed Woodward (or whoever takes over as director of football) will ask for the Belgian, with the club likely wanting to recoup most of their original expenditure.
TuttoMercatoWeb reckon the Red Devils could demand around €90m, which wouldn’t be an issue for Inter if they sell Icardi for his release clause (€110m), but that probably won’t happen.
On top of falling out with his manager and some of his teammates (Marcelo Brozovic liked a few social media posts about the news), the 25-year-old has been out of form of late, scoring just one goal in his last nine league appearances for the club.
Their other, and perhaps more realistic, option is Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata, for whom the Serie A club want around €50m (maybe a bit more), which is far more reasonable in price and he already knows the league.
However, it’s worth pointing out that Inter’s priority is to first see if they can talk with Icardi and get him to stay with a new contract.
If they can’t, then they’ll turn to other options, like those mentioned above.
