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Chelsea’s cash and Alvaro Morata not enough to tempt Mauro Icardi

By Barrett Rouen

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 12: Alvaro Morata of Chelsea runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on February 12, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 12: Alvaro Morata of Chelsea runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on February 12, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /
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Silly season is full of delightful rumors that have no basis for life in the real world. One of the best in the short season so far has been the Alvaro-Morata-and-cash-for-Mauro-Icardi move that surfaced Friday.

This transfer won’t happen. It’s too complicated and involves too many pieces, and Chelsea do not even have a technical director in place to do it. Now with that out of the way, let’s at least entertain this a little bit.

Would it be a good move? Maybe. Alvaro Morata is not long for London and Mauro Icardi has been trying to nicely move his way out of Milan for a long time now. Morata likes Italy (as he is so happy to tell everyone) and Icardi has been looking for a bigger club for ages.

Icardi is a phenomenal striker. The issues with him are entirely off-field and, while those are important things to consider when measuring the personalities in a club’s dressing room, we’re already so deep into the world of the hypothetical, why bother?

Ultimately this move would not ever work because Chelsea and Inter are in too similar positions for it to be worth the trouble, unless both players direct their agents force it through. If anything, Inter’s position is more fortuitous. They have the more in-form player, who is also their captain, best player, leader, top-scorer and fan (sometimes) favorite.

For this deal to happen, Icardi would have to forget (a) his legendary status as captain, having led Inter Milan back to the Champions League, (b) £200,000 a week salary, (c) a coach who adores him and (d) a life he likes.

He would trade that away to move to a club (a) with no Champions League football, (b) where his salary would be nitpicked regardless of how well he played, (c) that doesn’t have a coach and (d) uproot his family.

It just doesn’t make sense. Inter have too much the upper hand. Sure, it would be nice to see Icardi banging in goals like it’s nobody’s business in the Premier League. Of the strikers back on planet earth now that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have aged out of their video game-level statistics, Icardi is one of the leaders. But it just simply won’t happen.

Next: Four indelible moments from Chelsea's 2017/18: From Batshuayi to bulls**t

Icardi’s situation is too good right now and is about to get better. Chelsea’s is poor and getting more awful every single day.

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