The striker hasn’t featured for the Nerazzurri since being stripped of the captaincy earlier this month and a summer transfer now looks inevitable. Antonio Cassano spent a significant chunk of his disastrous spell at Real Madrid having sex and eating cake. In that order. “In Madrid, I had a friend who was a hotel waiter,” the retired 36-year-old explained in his autobiography. “His job was to bring me three or four pastries after I had sex.
“He would bring the pastries up the stairs, I would escort the woman to him and we would make an exchange: he would take the girl and I would take the pastries. Sex and then food: a perfect night. Fair to say, then, that Cassano knows a thing or two about getting one’s priorities wrong. So, it was intriguing that during an appearance on Tika Taka last weekend opposite Mauro Icardi’s wife and agent, Wanda, he argued that the onus was on the striker to work out his current problems with both his team-mates and employers at Inter.
Icardi hasn’t played for Inter since being dramatically stripped of the captaincy without warning or explanation two weeks ago and, ostensibly, that’s because he says he has a minor knee problem. However, Inter have already claimed recent medical tests have shown no change in the forward’s physical condition since he was last assessed, at the start of the season.
So, while the notoriously combustible Cassano said he could understand why Icardi might be hurting emotionally right now, the former Italy international nonetheless urged the dethroned captain to swallow his pride and take the first step towards reconciliation. “I would have gone crazy [in his situation], but he doesn’t have to stay out of the team until June,” Cassano reasoned. He needs to go into the dressing room and clarify his position with the players for his own sake. “I say it as an Interista : he needs to talk to those who have problems with him, shake their hands and, in June, what will be, will be.”
Wanda, though, disagreed entirely, telling Cassano that her husband is the innocent victim in this embarrassingly public affair.”Mauro must go to the dressing room to resolve problems?” she asked, incredulous. “Enough of this rubbish! He’s done nothing. It’s all non-existent drama. If only that were true. While we still do not know for sure what provoked Inter’s decision to take the captain’s armband away from Icardi and give it to Samir Handanovic, this whole episode has undeniably descended into a farce, one that is benefiting nobody.
Icardi is clearly devastated, while his wife is being vilified by fans and journalists alike. A disgruntled fan even threw a rock at her car while her children were in the back. The atmosphere has become that toxic.Inter’s coach Luciano Spalletti and his players are being asked about their former captain constantly. They look as exhausted as they are irritated by all of the speculation .
“We can’t talk about this every day,” a bewildered Handanovic sighed after last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Fiorentina. So, contrary to Wanda’s claim, the drama is very real, and un-ending. And she is as complicit as anyone in that regard, given she appears on Tika Takaevery week to curry support for her crestfallen husband. Her tearful account of the effect losing the captaincy has had on Icardi (“it’s as if they have cut off his leg”) bizarrely led to Inter CEO Beppe Marotta ringing in to console Wanda live on air.
The club have also had enough of someone they saw as an obstacle in their attempts to persuade their former skipper to sign a new contract at San Siro.As Icardi’s partner, Wanda clearly wants to do right by her husband and client. Inter, though, have been repeatedly stated that their sole aim is to do right by the club and it’s obvious that many members of the Inter dressing room welcomed the decision to strip Icardi of the captaincy.
Wanda undoubtedly played a part in that by blaming Icardi’s team-mates for his recent goal drought before then, even more gallingly, speculating that “psychological problems” may have led to Ivan Perisic’s request to leave during the January transfer window, thus breaking that mythical bond betweendressing room and the public domain.
Certainly, it was not a surprise to see the Croatia winger take issue with Matteo Politano for imitating Icardi’s famed ‘cupped ears’ celebration in last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Fiorentina. Even less shocking was the fact that immediately after a game that featured a controversial late penalty awarded against Inter, Nara went looking for sympathy again.