Mauro Icardi and Inter have stolen the headlines this week, after the Italian club stripped the Argentine of his captaincy, replacing him with the veteran goalkeeper, Samir Handanovic.
Icardi has been a servant to the club since 2013, having a phenomenal record of 109 goals in 179 league matches played, and was named as club captain before the start of the 2015-16 season, at the age of just 21.
So what has caused Inter to take away the armband from him?
Mauro Icardi has long been a controversial figure in Italian football, from marrying his friend, Maxi Lopez's ex-wife, to causing Inter Ultras to riot against him for commenting about them in his biography. The main cause of uproar however, was caused when he employed his wife, Wanda Nara, as his agent.
Once he employed Wanda Nara as his agent, Icardi's relationship with the club turned sour. His wife constantly forced the club to increase his wages, constantly threatening to make the Argentine leave the club if this is not done. Whilst they seemed to be on good terms earlier on in the season, Wanda Nara went on to comment earlier on this week as to how the striker was being deprived of quality service, and that she would prefer it if her husband moved to a club capable of doing so instead.
The club immediately responded, stripping Icardi of the captaincy, thus increasing the doubts over his future at Inter Milan.
A fan statement was released earlier on in the season, that said in anger "this is an individual who cannot be allowed to wear the Inter armband. It's not for us, but Inter simply don't deserve this."
Icardi has been openly humiliated by the club, and as a result, refused to travel with the club to their Europa League win over Rapid Vienna last Thursday. Spalletti has said that the Argentine feels extremely hurt by the action taken by the club, after Icardi had said how much the captaincy means to him over the course of the four seasons he has been captain of the club.
Whilst this will probably lead to Icardi leaving the club, the Argentine was the first to report to training on Thursday, and the club, Spalletti, and the Icardis all know that the confusion that surrounded the situation has hurt all of them in the process.
