'Icardi strategy a total failure'

By Football Italia staff

Wanda Nara and Mauro Icardi’s strategy with Inter was “a total failure,” said her TV co-worker Pierluigi Pardo. “Joining PSG as a fourth-choice striker is hardly a victory.”

The forward finally made his loan with option to buy move to Paris Saint-Germain in the final hours of deadline day and consequently dropped the legal action against Inter.

He had tried to sue them for €1.5m in damages, demanding to be let back into full training, as he was being “discriminated” against.

Now that he has moved, TV presenter Pardo felt he could let loose on what has been happening behind the scenes with Icardi’s wife/agent Wanda Nara, who worked with Pardo as a pundit on programme Tiki Taka.

“It was a surreal situation we experienced and so was Wanda’s strategy, assuming she had one, which proved to be a total failure,” Pardo told Radio 24.

“He’s a great player and of course he was always going to find a team, but to see someone who scored 124 goals for Inter leave like that… there were celebrations in the streets from Inter fans.

“I’ll be very honest here: if the lawsuit against Inter had continued, Wanda’s presence on our programme would’ve been incompatible and I told the company that too. It would not have been compatible with my professional ideals.”

The breakdown in rapport between Icardi and Inter started when Wanda made comments on that television programme, stating her husband wasn’t after money.

“He’d gladly take a pay cut if Inter just signed someone who could give him a decent cross.”

These statements, and Icardi’s refusal to apologise to his teammates, sparked the rot, leading to him losing the captaincy, Coach Luciano Spalletti accusing him of feigning an injury in retaliation and the total split this summer.

When told to find himself another club, Icardi rejected every transfer alternative until the final day with PSG.

“He wasn’t going to play for Inter again, everyone said so,” continued Pardo. “Evidently, this was not just a row with Spalletti.

“I don’t think Wanda’s comments alone were enough to create chaos in the dressing room, but you cannot declare love for a club and then sue it. Ivan Perisic, for example, left.

“We can’t pretend Spalletti and then Antonio Conte were masochists in not wanting Icardi around. If nobody wanted him, maybe… I don’t want to diminish the gravity of what Wanda said, we all realised at the time it was bad. But if Icardi had been a real leader, he would’ve gone into that locker room, shaken hands and urged them to start again, then told his wife to be more careful and clarify her comments.

“This situation is absolutely a defeat. The whole world now knows Icardi tried to sue his club. Maybe other teams would’ve taken him, but they didn’t because they saw the complexity of the situation.

“Over the last 10 months, Wanda and Icardi lost. I even told Wanda this: ‘If by September 2 he hasn’t found a new club, you will go down in history as ruining things.’

“I also told her many times that Napoli and Roma would’ve been ideal environments to help two people whose image had become catastrophic over the last few months.

“She saved what could be saved, but it’s not a victory to join PSG as fourth choice striker. If that’s triumph for Wanda, then I’m thin!” joked the rotund Pardo.

Wanda had been confirmed as staying on this season with Tiki Taka, but Mediaset have not yet clarified if that is still the case.

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