Mauro Icardi

Wanda is the ex-wife of Maxi López, Icardi's former teammate from ‘Sampdoria.’ Icardi's marriage with Wanda created immense controversy and fueled animosity against him in Argentina. According to reports, Wanda’s marriage with López, with whom she had three sons, ended in a divorce after her relationship with Icardi was exposed.

Icardi faced controversy again when he offended a few ‘Internazionale’ fans by describing an incident in his autobiography, ‘Sempre Avanti’ (‘Always Forward’), published on October 11, 2016. He was forced to erase the portion from the book and was subsequently fined by ‘Internazionale.’

Icardi was born on February 19, 1993, in Rosario, Argentina, to Analía Rivero and Juan Icardi. He began playing soccer at the age of 5, in a juvenile team called ‘Sarratea.’

When he was 9 years old, his family migrated to Spain due to recession and settled in the Canary Islands. His father, Juan, worked in a restaurant as Icardi started his youth football career with ‘Vecindario.’

Between 2002 and 2008, he netted over 500 goals in the youth categories of the club, thereby garnering attention from several top clubs, scouts, and managers. He received offers from clubs such as ‘Liverpool,’ ‘Barcelona,’ ‘Arsenal,’ and ‘Real Madrid’ among others.

He finally joined ‘Barcelona’ in 2008, signing a contract till 2013, and was inducted in the ‘Under-17’ team. The next season, he was promoted to the ‘Under-19’ team.

He signed a contract with the Italian association football club ‘Unione Calcio Sampdoria,’ better known as ‘Sampdoria,’ on loan, till the end of the 2010–2011 season, a confirmation of which was made by the club on January 11, 2011. He spent a six-month stint with the club’s ‘Primavera’ team, on loan, during which he scored 13 goals in 19 games.

In July 2011, ‘Sampdoria’ bought ‘Icardi’ for €400,000, signing a deal of three years.

His first-team debut with ‘Sampdoria’ was on May 12, 2012, in a 2–1 win against ‘Juve Stabia.’ The match also marked the first professional goal netted by him.

He made his ‘Serie A’ debut on September 26, 2012, against ‘Roma.’ He netted his first goal in the professional league competition on November 12 that year, during the ‘Derby della Lanterna,’ when ‘Sampdoria’ scored a 3–1 win over ‘Genoa.’

He scored both the goals of his team’s 2–1 win over ‘Juventus’ at the ‘Juventus Stadium’ on January 6, 2013, which marked the second loss of ‘Juventus’ at the stadium.