Player could retire instead of joining Everton as free agent – Lost the buzz

Everton may have one fewer option to solve their striker problem, with Mauro Icardi now reportedly considering retirement.

The Argentine has been linked with the Toffees since the transfer window closed. He is available as a free agent and Everton have room to register him.

We just covered that Everton had received a formal proposal from Icardi’s side and described their interest as “more concrete”.

But now there’s an update from Turkey, and it’s quite dramatic. Aykırı report that Icardi could simply walk away from football altogether.

Icardi has apparently lost the buzz

According to the Turkish outlet, Icardi has stopped his individual training and currently doesn’t want to play for any club.

They say the 33-year-old rejected an offer worth €5m (£4.3m) per year from Galatasaray. He then failed to reach an agreement elsewhere.

Lazio apparently became another possibility. Icardi considered signing for the Italian club before changing his mind about that too.

Aykırı go as far as saying an announcement confirming his retirement is expected in the coming days.

That’s a big claim, so some caution is obviously needed here. Icardi hasn’t announced anything himself and reports from Argentina had recently painted a very different picture.

If the Turkish information is accurate, though, it sounds like Icardi has simply lost the buzz for football for the time being. That would obviously make all the Everton talk irrelevant.

Everton could lose one of their few immediate options

The timing isn’t particularly helpful for David Moyes, who would need to look at other alternatives.

There could be a silver lining to not get Icardi on board though. His goals have often arrived alongside plenty of headlines about his personal life, and that has continued since leaving Turkey.

Everton therefore already had plenty to consider before deciding whether to move forward.

They may now have a much more fundamental question to answer first: does Icardi actually want to play football anymore?