The start of the season has been anything but ideal for Mauro Icardi. His contract with Turkish club Galatasaray has expired, leaving the Argentine striker without a club and facing plenty of questions about his future.
Now comes a fresh blow. Icardi has been banned from driving after a video posted by his partner documented a string of traffic violations, including driving with an expired licence, according to the Spanish newspaper "AS".
The Ministry of Transport in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, imposed the penalty. The precautionary ban runs, symbolically, until 1 January 2099, in accordance with "Provincial Law 13927" in the province of Buenos Aires.
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The footage showed Icardi's current partner, Eugenia "La China" Suarez, without a seatbelt and leaning more than half of her body out of the car window while it was moving. Icardi was driving at the time, and it later emerged that his licence had expired.
The official body in Buenos Aires explained that the offence requires the withdrawal of the driving licence, with Icardi needing to pass a test to get it back. "We have decided to suspend him as a precaution," it said. "Before obtaining a new licence, his fitness to drive must be assessed. Road safety allows no exceptions."
On the pitch, his future remains unclear. Clubs in Qatar, Mexico and Argentina have all been linked with the striker, but no official agreement has been reached over his next destination.