“He cites Michelangelo Albertazzi’s case against Hellas Verona, but that was a different situation entirely. He was made to change in a different locker room, he never trained on the same pitch as his teammates and his car tyres were slashed in the club car park,” sports law expert Mattia Grassani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Icardi cannot talk about ‘mobbing’ because that is based on repeated humiliation, the removal of fundamental rights such as use of the locker room along with teammates, use of the club facilities, etc. The total demolition of the athlete’s profession.
“By the looks of it, Icardi is claiming he was not allowed to take part in tactical sessions or midweek games. These are not sufficient to represent a mobbing case.
“The real issue here is can a club decide whether a player is no longer part of their sporting project? There is one precedent, when Cagliari decided to focus on Michael Agazzi in 2010, excluding Federico Marchetti, who had been first choice before the World Cup.
“President Massimo Cellino declared officially that Marchetti was no longer in their plans, so he turned to the tribunal, but his legal action was shelved.
“In general, we have to consider that the club and Coach are responsible for deciding who is and isn’t part of their plans, which is notably an autonomous right.