In his latest weekly World Cup column, Andy Brassell says that while Mauro Icardi's Inter have hit a rough patch, he is not to be overlooked for the reckoning in Argentina's side...
It was another frustrating weekend for Inter, despite their equaliser against Roma on Sunday night. Their winless run stretched to six games in all competitions, with their hopes of a surprise crack at the Serie A title in tatters.
Thank goodness, then, for Mauro Icardi. He has suffered in this barren run for Luciano Spalletti's side as much as anyone, scoring just one in the last four league matches, and he was again frustrated in his team's latest stalemate as they aim to cling onto a Champions League place.
All-round growth
Much as Icardi loves Inter, as he's always made abundantly clear, there's something even bigger on the horizon for him. Having been pushed to the periphery, the 24-year-old is in the mix for a - potentially - starring role with 10.50 chances Argentina at the upcoming World Cup. Just as one swallow doesn't make a summer in terms of Inter's form, a few slow weeks for Icardi shouldn't, and can't, take away from his imperious form so far this campaign.
Even with a few difficult games of late, Icardi has an impressive 18 goals in Serie A so far this season. Such has been his phenomenal growth as a player in the last 18 months, though, it feels like this statistic is totally insufficient to communicate his real value.
Inter's leader
Icardi is everything for Inter; a talisman, a leader, a goalscorer and a vastly-improved player outside the penalty box, who does much to join up the team's play in the final third. It all feeds into the impression that he has grown, in every sense.
It was never just about what happened on the pitch with Icardi, of course, going back to the ugly public spat with compatriot Maxi López over Wanda Nara, now Icardi's wife and agent. It was widely suggested (though always denied by national team coaches) that Icardi's three-year exile from the Argentina team, which ended last year, was down to him coming with considerable baggage. Former boss Eduardo Bauza was even forced to refute an allegation that Icardi's exclusion was down to Lionel Messi's friendship with López.
Stiff competition for Argentina places
Yet Icardi is a far more stable presence these days, recovered from a fallout with fans as well as former teammates. He lives a settled family life a stone's throw from the San Siro, and has done nothing to stoke transfer rumours, always insisting he'd love to stay at the club.
Where he fits with Argentina promises to be quite the challenge, though. It's a given that everything has to revolve around Messi, who has been extraordinary even by his own stratospheric standards this season with Barcelona. On top of that, he has to compete with Sérgio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala. It's arguably the most competitive sphere in world football.
Agüero back at his very best
Agüero is having a prolific season, as always, but is also benefitting from the arrival of Gabriel Jesus, which has meant Manchester City are less desperate to wrap him in cotton wool. Off the leash, his all-round game is closer to what it was. Higuaín hasn't had his best season for Juventus but sometimes makes the case - such as on the last occasion this column saw him in the flesh, in Juve's October win at Milan - that he is as good as finishers get.
Icardi, then, has a big task on his hands, and one hopes that Inter's current troubles don't drag him down. Yet his season as a whole has shown the sort of instincts that hint he could offer an edge in what might be a tight group for Argentina. That he has turned around perceptions of him to enjoy his current campaign leads one to think that he is not to be underestimated.
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