Icardi makes permanent PSG move

Icardi has completed a permanent move to Paris Saint-Germain from Inter after the Ligue 1 club triggered their purchase option.

Icardi moved to PSG on loan last year after his relationship with the Inter hierarchy became strained, and a return to San Siro rarely looked likely.

The first half of the 2019-20 season proved particularly productive for the 27-year-old, who had little difficulty dislodging Edinson Cavani in the starting XI and forming a formidable attack with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Although his form dipped at the start of January, he still finished the shortened Ligue 1 campaign with 12 goals in 20 appearances.

Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio recently confirmed PSG’s option on Icardi was due to expire on May 31, and the French champions have made their move just in time, with the forward signing a deal which runs until June 2024.

Reports claim PSG will pay an initial €50million, but the deal could eventually reach €57m.

Icardi early start

Icardi was born in Rosario, Argentina and moved to Canary Islands when he was nine. He began his football career with Vecindario in Gran Canaria, and scored over 50 goals in their youth categories.

In 2007, he was disputed over by Barcelona and Real Madrid, after offers from Valencia, Sevilla, Espanyol, Deportivo La Coruña, Arsenal and Liverpool. Barcelona won the race for Icardi, and signed with him until 2013.

Icardi joined the Catalan club at the start of 2008–09 season and was included on the U-17 team. He was promoted to the U-19 team the following season before joining Sampdoria on loan in January 2011.

Icardi later stated that leaving Barcelona was not a bad decision, convinced that his decision to move on was the right one.

On 11 January 2011, Sampdoria confirmed Icardi had signed with the club on loan until the end of the season. After a successful six-month loan for la Samp, scoring 13 goals in 19 games with the Primavera team, the Italian side utilised the option to buy Icardi for €400,000 in July 2011, signing a three-year deal.

In 2011–12 season, he scored 19 goals in the reserve league Group A, as the joint-third topscorer of the league along with Gonzalo Barreto of Group C.

On 12 May 2012, he made his first-team debut, against Juve Stabia, after coming off the bench to replace Bruno Fornaroli in the 75th minute of the match. Ten minutes later, Icardi scored his first professional goal to win the match 2–1 for Sampdoria.

On 26 September 2012, he made his Serie A debut for Sampdoria against Roma, substituting the Paraguayan midfielder Marcelo Estigarribia in the 49th minute. On 12 November, Icardi scored his first goal in Serie A in the Derby della Lanterna against Genoa in an eventual 3–1 win.

On 6 January 2013, he scored two goals against Juventus in Sampdoria’s 2–1 upset at Juventus Stadium. It was Juventus’s second ever loss in the Juventus Stadium since the construction.

On 27 January 2013, he scored four goals in a six-goal thrashing of fellow strugglers Pescara, lifting the Genoese side clear of the Serie A relegation zone. On 18 May, during the final match of 2012–13 season, Icardi scored again against Juventus, helping the team to beat the eventual champions of Italy 3–2 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

Inter Milan
In late April, it was announced that Icardi would join Inter Milan before the beginning of the 2013–14 season.

The deal was also later confirmed by Sampdoria board. The transfer fee was €6.5 million for 50% registration rights. Icardi was officially unveiled as an Inter player on 16 July along with Algerian striker Ishak Belfodil, where he was allocated squad number 9.

He said that moving to Inter is a “dream come true”, adding that he “had a lot of offers, but wanted only Inter”.

He made his unofficial debut one day later during the 3–0 away win against Trentino Select XI by playing in the first half of the 3–0 away win. He scored his first goal for Inter in their 1–1 pre-season friendly draw with Bundesliga club Hamburger SV, netting after less than two minutes on the field and being assisted by Fredy Guarín.

2013–15: Debut season and Capocannoniere
On 25 August 2013, Icardi made his Inter official debut, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 home success over Genoa, hitting the crossbar late in the game;he scored his first league goal for the Nerazzurri on 14 September, netting the first of a 1–1 home draw against Juventus, after coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute.

Due to injury, Icardi missed most of the games of the first part of the season, only returning to first-team matches in February. On 14 February 2014, during the away match against Fiorentina at Stadio Artemio Franchi, Icardi returned in the field after four months and scored the winner after only ten minutes.

Later, on 5 April, Icardi scored a brace during the 2–2 home draw against Bologna. That was his first brace of his Inter career. This was followed by another brace during the 0–4 away win against his former side Sampdoria.

Before the match, he was booed by the home fans, but he quieted them down by scoring in the 13th minute from a cross from Palacio, making a negative gesture which saw him booked.

On 10 May 2014, in Javier Zanetti’s last competitive match at the San Siro, in which Inter defeated Lazio 4–1 to secure a place in Europa League play-off for next season, Icardi scored the second goal of the match in the 37th minute after an assist from Kovačić and went to celebrate with Zanetti.

He ended his first season with Nerazzurri with 23 matches in all competitions, including 22 in the league, scoring 9 goals in the process with an average of one goal in every 145 minutes.

On 10 June 2014, Inter and Sampdoria reached the deal to terminate the co-ownership for another €6.5 million,making Inter was the sole employer of Icardi in the football field.

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