Icardi on Sky Sport 24: “When I come off the bench I’m set on giving 150%”

Inter Milan

APPIANO GENTILE – Mauro Icardi has spoken about his recent injury, his idols and his dreams in an exclusive interview with Sky Sport 24.

Speaking to Matteo Barzaghi this afternoon, the Nerazzurri front man began by looking ahead to the upcoming game against AC Milan at the Stadio Meazza: "I dream about the derby night being like the derby I played with Sampdoria last year when I scored on my Serie A debut."

The Argentine striker then talked about Inter’s targets and his recent spell out of action: "We have to knuckle down taking things one day at a time and we’ll see where we end up come the end of the year. We worked really well in pre-season. To be perfectly honest when I was at Samp I never worked as hard as I have here.

"Then I had this groin problem, which may have been carried over from last season, and I had to sit out for a while, but I’ve always been totally dedicated. How hard was it sitting on the sidelines? Very hard. No footballer likes being sidelined, but I’ve had the op done now and bit by bit I’m finding my rhythm again."

The stats speak loud and clear for Mauro: every time he’s come off the bench he’s looked dangerous. "In my mind I’m set on giving 150% when I come off the bench because I’m coming on to help my team-mates and I have to get straight up to their level."

Upon hearing comparisons with Crespo and Batistuta, Icardi revealed: "Batistuta was always my idol, but Crespo had a fantastic career too."

On being spoken of as Milito’s heir: "Milito is Milito. Everyone knows what he’s done in his career up till now and I still have a long way to go to achieve what he has."

Besides Milito, there are also people like Zanetti, Cambiasso and Samuel that Mauro can take as examples, as Walter Mazzarri has said on a number of occasions this season. "The gaffer’s right to say that because they’ve got the experience and they can help me to develop and improve."

Finally, the striker was asked about his use of social networks and his private life: "Social networking is a part of everyday life nowadays but I don’t write anything special; it’s other people who write all sorts of things. Anyhow, I’m not going to talk about my private life. I want people to talk about what I do on the pitch. What’s my dream for 2014? You have to build your dreams one day at a time."