Mauro Icardi loves a complicated relationship
Mauro Icardi is a wonderful footballer. He is a prolific striker who has scored goals wherever he has been. Sampdoria? Goals. Inter Milan? Goals. PSG? You guessed it, goals.
After impressing on loan in Paris in the Covid-19 interrupted 2019/20 campaign, he earned a £52million permanent move after firing in 20 goals in 28 appearances.
With 243 goal contributions in 364 career games, his record speaks for itself.
Where the Argentine is often criticised, however, is off the pitch – more specifically, for his quite frankly bizarre romantic misadventures.
Earlier this week, Icardi and wife Wanda Nara had a public feud after the latter accused the PSG man of cheating – which led to the 28-year-old being given permission by his club to miss the Parisians’ 3-2 win against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday night, as well as two training sessions, in order to resolve the apparent break up which had made headline news.
Icardi and his wife could be forgiven for having a lovers’ tiff. They happen. But this isn’t his first romantic misdemeanour.
The striker has been involved in a number of awkward romantic situations, one of which included him having an affair with one of his teammate’s wives.
But where did it all begin? Welcome to The Bizarre Romantic Misadventures of Mauro Icardi. (Please, someone make a film about this.)
Mr Steal-Your-Teammate’s-Girl
If there was ever a way to ruin team chemistry, it’s by going off with your teammate’s wife.
When Icardi was at Sampdoria between 2011 and 2013, news broke that him and Nara – who was married to the Argentine’s teammate Maxi López at the time – were having an affair. Unsurprisingly, Nara split with Lopez when her relationship with Icardi was exposed.
Nara and López began divorce proceedings in December 2013, as it quickly became clear that her and Icardi would be continuing their relationship.
It would be fair to assume that, following the controversy, Nara and Icardi would try to keep their relationship low-key and out of the public eye. At least for a while.
As you can now imagine, that’s not the his style. He certainly doesn’t do things by half.
The pair had each other’s names tattooed onto their wrists, which isn’t too weird, to be fair.
What is weird, though, is when they were talking to each other on Twitter, using the hashtag ‘#Quindicina’, which is apparently a reference to the fact they once made love 15 times in 28 hours.
Oh, and Icardi also lived with Wanda and her three children – you guessed it, Lopez’s three children: Valentino, Constantino, and Benedicto.
Five months after Nara and López had divorced, she married Icardi. In May 2014, a small ceremony in Buenos Aires saw them come together as one.
Eight months later, they welcomed their first child together, Francesca.
It gets worse (yes, really)
Not quite satisfied with breaking up his teammate’s marriage, and living with his children, Icardi then escalated the unfortunate situation to another level.
The forward got a tattoo with the names of his Lopez’s three children on his arm, with post about the tattoo captioned: ‘I love these three little angels’.
I mean, it’s a sweet sentiment, but talk about kicking a man while he’s down.
Handshake? Nah you’re alright
If you’re reading this and thinking ‘surely he was hammered in the press for what he did?’, then you are absolutely right.
His marriage to Wanda and treatment of his former friend Lopez angered people in Argentina, making him a target of rumours and unproven claims by Argentinian tabloids.
Many people have suggested that one of the reasons why Icardi has only made eight appearances for the Argentina national side is because of the anger caused by his affair and subsequent marriage to Wanda, with the late Diego Maradona previously engaging in bitter Twitter exchanges with Icardi following the incident.
When the frontman left Sampdoria to join Inter Milan in 2013, the question was always going to be, ‘will Lopez shake his hand?’
Let me put it this way, if you, yes YOU, found out your partner was cheating on you with your co-worker, would you shake their hand the next time you saw them in the shop? No you wouldn’t. If you say you would, you’re kidding yourself.
So when Sampdoria faced Inter in April 2014, Lopez notably refused to shake Icardi’s hand – which led many people in the press to label the game, drumroll please, the “Wanda derby”. Truly great minds at work there.
In 2016, with Lopez having moved to Torino, Icardi was again snubbed by the 37-year-old, who, understandably, had not forgiven his ex-teammate.
Wanda be my agent?
For a number of years, Wanda has acted as Icardi’s agent – overseeing contract negotiations and representing him at transfer dealings.
In April 2017, speaking to Gente, she described herself as ‘the only wife who makes money for her husband. He’s gone from being worth €14m to €250m’.
When the Argentine was still at Inter, Wanda stated that her husband had almost signed for rivals Juventus the summer they signed Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as hinting that moves to ‘London, Paris or Madrid’ were a possibility.
The latest saga
Wanda publicly accused Icardi of cheating on her as their relationship once again made headline news.
The striker was given permission by PSG to miss a match and two training sessions in order to resolve the situation.
Taking to Instagram, Wanda wrote: “Another family you have ruined for a s***,” before posting an image without her wedding ring on with the caption: “Good day. I prefer my hand without a ring on it.”
https://twitter.com/FootballlForAll/status/1449464415364034563
However, following some time away, it looked like the pair were back together after the Argentine posted an emotional tribute to his wife on Instagram.
In his post, Icardi said: “Thank you my love for continuing to believe in this beautiful family, thanks for being the motor of our lives. I love you.
“Look how much it hurts when you harm the ones you love. You only feel right again when the ones you hurt forgive you.”
Their reunion was confirmed on Tuesday night as the 28-year-old posted a picture of the two with the caption “Hold me tight, and never let go of me.“
But love seems to have prevailed and the ‘happy’ couple are back together. Just another day in the life of Mauro Icardi.
