Roberto Mancini says Mauro Icardi will start for Inter against Celtic tomorrow night, but warns he needs to improve.
The Argentinian striker has 16 goals in 28 games this season, but the Beneamata Coach says he can do even better.
“I think Icardi, given his age, still has huge room for improvement,” Mancini said in his pre-match Press conference ahead of the Europa League Last 32 tie.
“He can learn and improve, from all points of view. He can be a great centre forward in the next 10 years, he’s a good lad.
Roberto Mancini says Mauro Icardi will start for Inter against Celtic tomorrow night, but warns he needs to improve.
The Argentinian striker has 16 goals in 28 games this season, but the Beneamata Coach says he can do even better.
“I think Icardi, given his age, still has huge room for improvement,” Mancini said in his pre-match Press conference ahead of the Europa League Last 32 tie.
“He can learn and improve, from all points of view. He can be a great centre forward in the next 10 years, he’s a good lad.
“I think his future depends on what he does until the end of the season.
“Who will play tomorrow? Fredy [Guarin], Icardi, [Juan] Jesus, [Davide] Santon, [Gary] Medel, [Rodrigo] Palacio. As for the others, I’ll assess their condition tomorrow.
“Kovacic? It’s the same thing as Mauro, he’s young, and needs to improve in many areas. He’ll be the future of Inter, but sometimes he has to take a step back, understand and improve technical things.
“It’s down to his age.”
The former Manchester City manager also discussed Inter’s Champions League aims, as the Nerazzurri are coming off three Serie A wins in a row.
“If Juventus would slow down we could reach them!” Mancini laughed.
“Three wins don’t change anything, but they give us more confidence. When we’re working hard but not getting results it’s discomforting, but now the results are there.
“The three wins are the result of that work, but our position is still not befitting of Inter. We’ll see later, the goal is to grow further.
“If we succeed we’ll be satisfied, talking of objectives at the moment is pointless.”