Juventus Linked with Mauro Icardi Amid Gonzalo Higuain Exit Rumours

Juventus are reportedly prepared to let Gonzalo Higuain leave this summer and could use him as a makeweight in a deal to sign Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan. 

According to Corriere della Sera (via Football Italia), Juve have offered €50 million (£43.5 million) plus Higuain to Inter for Icardi, and the Nerazzurri are interested despite the striker's €110 million (£96 million) release clause only applying for clubs outside of Italy.

A separate Calciomercato report Higuain, 30, is likely to depart this summer but added Juve "will find it very tough" to sign Icardi as Inter will not sell him to a Serie A rival.

That seems a more likely position for Inter to take.

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Argentinian Icardi finished the 2017-18 Serie A campaign—in which Inter finished fourth—as joint top scorer with Lazio's Ciro Immobile after scoring 29 goals in 34 appearances.

It was his best return in a Serie A season and the third time in the last four campaigns he has topped 20 goals.

Unlike Higuain, he is not part of the Argentina squad that is going to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Icardi is one of the best strikers in Europe at the moment and arguably deserves to be at a club that is fighting for league titles and the UEFA Champions League.

He owes Inter little having excelled in five seasons with the club, and it would be no surprise were he to exit the San Siro this summer.

It would be a surprise if Inter allowed him to leave for Juve to bolster a squad that has won Serie A seven times in a row.

The non-Italian stipulation in his release clause is surely in place to stop such a transfer going through.

Juventus may well need a new striker in the summer to replace Higuain, who has also been linked with Chelsea, per Italian football writer Tancredi Palmeri:

It seems unlikely, though, that Icardi will be the man to replace his compatriot at the Old Lady.