Icardi: 'I want to stay'

By Football Italia staff

Mauro Icardi said he would “be happy to stay” at Paris Saint-Germain after scoring a hat-trick on their way to the semi-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue.

During a thumping 6-1 win against 10-men Saint-Etienne in the quarterfinals of the French League Cup, Icardi again proved his worth in the French capital.

On loan from Inter, the Argentine has now scored 17 goals in 19 games for the Rogue et Blue and claimed after his latest hat-trick that he would like to remain in France.

“I feel very good in Paris,” Icardi told the reporters. “I haven’t spoken to the club yet, but there are still four or five months left of the season.

“When the season is over in May, we will sit down and talk. If I have a chance to stay, I will be happy.”

The Argentine left Inter after a controversial end to his stint with the Nerazzurri and PSG have an option to buy the player in the deal with the Italian league leaders.

The 26-year-old revealed he has enjoyed the first half of the campaign and happy to be back from the winter break with a big win.

“It’s a good period for me and for my team. We’ve had a good first half of the season,” he said. “We took advantage of the holidays and it was excellent to start the year in this manner. I am happy with the work we are doing.”

The Italy international Marco Verratti was full of praise regarding Icardi’s performances with the Parisiens and said he is “always available” to receive the ball.

“He never touches the ball, because he knows the ball will find him,” Verratti told Canal Plus after the win. “And with that ball, he will score.

“He always makes himself available, it’s his main feature. We didn’t think he could do this well. It’s usually difficult to adapt to a new team, but he is an incredible player and we hope to continue this way.”

Stade Reims, Olympique Lyonnais and LOSC Lille are the three other teams who have qualified for the last four of the competition.

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