Luciano Spalletti: Mauro Icardi Must 'Free Himself' from Contract Distractions

Inter Milan manager Luciano Spalletti has urged the club to resolve the contract situation of star striker Mauro Icardi, whose struggling form he says has been affected by the distractions off the pitch.

Icardi failed to score for the seventh Serie A match in succession as Inter won 1-0 at Parma on Saturday, and Spalletti attributed his lack of recent goals to the ongoing contract negotiations.

Spalletti said, per MailOnline's Max Winters: "Mauro is evidently seeing his performance affected by some situations that have been going on recently. He needs to free himself from the talk that is around him. The directors agreed to start talking about the contract, so now they need to go there and conclude it."

The barren run of seven league games without a goal is Icardi's worst drought since 2013 when he joined the club, but OptaPaolo noted it's not for a lack of trying:

The Nerazzurri remain third in Serie A and are now 20 points off leaders Juventus. Spalletti's side have the second-best defence in Italy—they've conceded only one goal more than Juve—but their attack has scored the joint-fewest goals of any team in the top seven (32).

Inter have scored a combined two goals in their last five matches across all competitions, and they've netted more than a sole goal just once in their last 12 games.

Icardi's current contract isn't due to expire until June 2021, but it's understood the two parties are making little progress in terms of signing an extension.

Get Italian Football News recently translated a post to Icardi's Instagram story, which suggested the club have yet to make him an offer he finds tempting:

Stefan De Vrij has only been at the club since the summer, but he recently said he felt his captain was happy at the San Siro:

Icardi scored a combined 55 goals over the course of the previous two seasons, but the former Sampdoria hitman has netted only 15 this term, nine of which have come in Serie A.

Spalletti would just as soon see his star's off-field matters come to an end so that he can get back to having his old impact on it, but the manager may be left waiting with no contract resolution in sight.