Former midfielder Valon Behrami has urged AC Milan to sign Mauro Icardi this summer, believing that he could be the striker who helps them knock Inter off their perch.
During the post-match coverage after Milan’s win against Fiorentina on Saturday night, on the DAZN broadcast there was a discussion about who could be Milan’s starting striker next season given that Olivier Giroud is likely to leave.
The former Fiorentina midfielder Behrami made his thoughts clear in the studio, imploring the Rossoneri to bring Icardi back to Serie A after he left Inter a few years ago for Paris Saint-Germain.
“If you have to look for an anti-Inter team in the future, you’ll see it at Milan. With this coach and with the addition of 2-3 players. Objectively, they’re the ones that – compared with Inter – have the smallest gap compared to the others,” he said (via PianetaMilan).
Emanuele Giaccherini, Marco Parolo and Alessandro Matri were also part of the debate, the rest of which went as follows.
Behrami: “Icardi would gladly return to Milan and be top scorer with Milan, he would beat Lautaro. Icardi has a crazy personality, he is very cold and responsibility never weighs on him, despite the fact that he has always been criticised a lot. He is an extraordinary player.”
Giaccherini: “Milan need a striker who scores at least 15 goals, and Zirkzee isn’t that for me.”
Parolo: “Zirkzee gets 15 at Milan easily and makes others do many of them thanks to his technique.”
Matri: “I want to venture with the name, Lewandowski. Milan have had Ibra and Giroud in recent years, in contrast with the youth policy. If Barcelona wanted to get rid of him and rejuvenate the team it would be a great gamble. I also really like En Nesyri from Sevilla, but if you ask me I’ll also say Icardi among those proposed.”
Icardi is at Galatasaray and he racked up 22 goals and seven assists in 24 league games last season, while he is on 18 goals and seven assists in 27 games this time around. He also bagged five in the Champions League in 2023-24 too.
His league goal tallies at Inter from 2014-15 to 2018-19 went as follows: 22, 16, 24, 29, 11. Last month, La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested that he is a genuine and affordable option to be Giroud’s heir.
