Mauro Icardi joins PSG on loan from Inter Milan

Mauro Icardi’s tenure with Inter Milan has come to an end as he moves to Ligue 1 to play for French powerhouse Pairs Saint-Germain.

PSG have completed a loan deal for striker Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan, with an option to buy.

According to Sky Sport’s Fabrizio Romano, PSG will be able to permanently sign him in the 2020 summer transfer window for €70M. He also came to an agreement on a contract extension with Inter until June of 2022.

“I’d like to thank Paris Saint-Germain for the confidence they have shown in me,” Icardi said after completing the move. “I will give everything to help my new team go as far as possible in all competitions.”

“The momentum is strong in Paris, ambitions are high and I am sure that we have everything here to go even further.”

Icardi is the club’s eight and final addition of what turned out to be a busy couple of months for PSG’s new sporting director Leonardo. The club spent over €90M in transfers for the fifth straight summer transfer window.

The Argentine striker leaves Inter after a series of events that strained the relationship between the two. Last season, he was stripped of the team’s capitacny by then-manager Luciano Spalletti. The decision was made just days after his wife and agent, Wanda Nara, made controversial comments on the weekly Italian talk show “Tiki Taka” over Icardi’s contract situation.

Coming into this season, the Argentine was ruled out of the team’s plans by new manager Antonio Conte. In response, Inter Milan’s board signed Romelu Lukaku to replace the exiled striker.

Icardi was keen on staying with Inter amid Conte’s decision and went as far as suing the club in order to push for his reinstatement with the team.

AS Monaco, Napoli, Roma and Juventus were all rumored to sign Icardi over the past couple of weeks, but he ultimately signs with the Parisian club on a last-minute deadline day deal.

Mauro Icardi leaves the Nerazzurri with 124 goals in six seasons, which is the seventh most ever in all competitions for the club.

He will now join a PSG side that already bolster a top attacking unit in Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe. Icardi is projected to take over the reigns as the team’s top striker next season with Cavani’s contract expiring in 2020.

PSG are currently without the services of Cavani and Mbappe due to injury but remain at the top of the Ligue 1 table at the September international break.