Icardi sues Inter for 'discrimination'

By Football Italia staff

More details are emerging on Mauro Icardi’s shock legal action against “discriminatory” Inter, suing for €1.5m in damages to be let back into the squad.

Just as there were reports Icardi was prepared to extend his contract by one more season so he could go out on loan to Monaco or Atletico Madrid, the bombshell dropped that he was suing the club.

Icardi and agent/wife Wanda Nara want him to be included in full training sessions – including the tactical exercises, which so far he has been excluded from – with €1.5m in damages.

The player has been told since Antonio Conte took over this summer that he was not in their plans and his Number 9 jersey was handed to Romelu Lukaku.

Icardi was given Number 7 and Inter knew there was the possibility of legal action, suing for breach of contract if he was not allowed to exercise his profession.

With that in mind, they consulted lawyers in pre-season and were very careful to give Icardi the bare minimum training facilities to ensure they were covered.

It seems even that was not enough and the Corriere dello Sport claims he wants to drag the entire squad into it, forcing them to testify in front of the tribunal.

Published extracts from the legal document show he alleges the club took “clearly discriminatory” action against him.

He maintains the club ‘discriminated’ against him by removing his image from the advertising campaigns, excluding him from photoshoots, taking away the Number 9 jersey, pushing him out of the squad for tactical sessions and even “dropping him from the team’s WhatsApp group” which is where they are told about the training schedule.

This would explain why he was the only player absent when the entire team got together for dinner on Thursday evening.

The legal missive also outlines that he sent an initial lawyer’s letter via PEC to the club demanding he be let back into training sessions on August 11, but it was further ignored and he was left for separate basic gym and fitness work with fellow outcast Joao Mario.

It should be noted, Joao Mario accepted a transfer to Lokomotiv Moscow last week.

“This damaged the dignity, decorum, honour, reputation, personal and professional image of the player,” so he is suing for both immediate return to the full training sessions, but also damages “not inferior to 20% of his annual salary” – ie €1.5m.

When there have been successful legal cases from players suing clubs, it was because they were excluded from training with their teammates entirely, not just for tactical lectures.

Inter have so far refused to explain what happened to spark this situation in February, as it all began when he was suddenly stripped of the captaincy for reasons that have never been clarified.

Wanda Nara has always stated he did “absolutely nothing” to warrant this, whereas the club hinted it would be kept behind closed doors.

Within 24 hours of that news, Icardi felt pain in his thigh and underwent treatment, but once the medical staff told him that he was fit to resume training, the player refused.

Coach Luciano Spalletti confirmed in a Press conference that Icardi had told him: “No, I will tell you when I’m ready to start training again.”

He did eventually return to the field for the final weeks of the season, but the damage was done.

Napoli and Monaco are reportedly ready to pay €65m for Icardi, a figure Inter would gladly accept, but he has rejected every transfer option.

It continues to be rumoured that he is trying to force a move to Inter’s arch-rivals Juventus, even though all sources point to no formal offer to Inter.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, a decision from the tribunal in this case would take two to three months.

At that point, Inter will be forced to let him play at least 10 per cent of their matches during the season to ensure he cannot try to activate Article 15 and terminate for breach of contract.

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