Expert: 'Icardi case is not mobbing'

By Football Italia staff

Mauro Icardi’s legal action against Inter, suing to be put back in full training plus €1.5m compensation, is “unpredictable,” claims a sporting law expert.

The striker is officially suing his club for “discriminatory behaviour,” complaining he was excluded from tactical training sessions and photoshoots in a scenario that developed after he was stripped of the captaincy in February.

“He cites Michelangelo Albertazzi’s case against Hellas Verona, but that was a different situation entirely. He was made to change in a different locker room, he never trained on the same pitch as his teammates and his car tyres were slashed in the club car park,” sports law expert Mattia Grassani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Icardi cannot talk about ‘mobbing’ because that is based on repeated humiliation, the removal of fundamental rights such as use of the locker room along with teammates, use of the club facilities, etc. The total demolition of the athlete’s profession.

“By the looks of it, Icardi is claiming he was not allowed to take part in tactical sessions or midweek games. These are not sufficient to represent a mobbing case.

“The real issue here is can a club decide whether a player is no longer part of their sporting project? There is one precedent, when Cagliari decided to focus on Michael Agazzi in 2010, excluding Federico Marchetti, who had been first choice before the World Cup.

“President Massimo Cellino declared officially that Marchetti was no longer in their plans, so he turned to the tribunal, but his legal action was shelved.

“In general, we have to consider that the club and Coach are responsible for deciding who is and isn’t part of their plans, which is notably an autonomous right.

“Having said all that, the outcome of a case presented to the tribunal is unpredictable and open to any result. The reconstruction of what happened can lean the situation one way or another. Within 45 days of the tribunal’s formation and acceptance of the case, a verdict will be released and cannot be appealed.”

It’s reported Inter are confident they have done everything by the book and will present evidence to confirm that, including film of training sessions involving Icardi.

As for the rest, a Coach must be given the autonomy to decide who plays and the club can choose who to use in its publicity campaigns.

Icardi is also protesting in the legal document that his Number 9 jersey was handed to new buy Romelu Lukaku, but again, Inter argue no player ‘owns’ a shirt number.

The possibility of Icardi taking legal action was floated ever since the start of the summer, so the Nerazzurri consulted lawyers and moved to cover themselves.

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