From Istanbul idol to North London lifeline? Spurs enter the race for free-agent Icardi
Tottenham have not scored a single Premier League goal this season, so the rumor mill has served up a name with a nose for them: Mauro Icardi.
Details: Tottenham have joined the race for Mauro Icardi, Calciomercato reports. The 33-year-old Argentine striker has been a free agent since leaving Galatasaray in July, and Spurs are now emerging as a potential destination, with Lazio also in contact with the player's camp.
The logic is easy to follow even if the romance is questionable. Roberto De Zerbi's side are still waiting for their first league goal of the campaign, and the free-agent market offers few pure finishers of Icardi's pedigree: a two-time Serie A top scorer, twice Capocannoniere, with more than 150 goals in Italy alone before his goal-laden four years at Galatasaray, where he left as a bona fide idol this summer. The concerns are equally well documented: at 33, with a significant salary history and a career long accompanied by off-field turbulence, he is a short-term bet in every sense. Lazio have been courting him for weeks and are believed to be his preference for a Serie A return, but the lure of the Premier League, a competition Icardi has never played in, could yet tip the scales. For Spurs, desperate for a focal point while their season threatens to unravel before autumn, a free transfer for a striker of this experience is the cheapest gamble on the market. The race is officially on.
It's worth noting that Icardi scored 61 goals in four seasons at Galatasaray, winning three Süper Lig titles and becoming one of the most prolific foreign players in the club's history.
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Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
