In this article, I will analyze a social emotional state that I personally call “Icardi Syndrome,” which reflects the current state of mind in Turkish society. First, let’s get to know Icardi, the Argentinian footballer for whom this syndrome is named, and describe the moments of his life that are relevant to us (you can read the details at https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauro_Icardi ).
Mauro Emanuel Icardi Rivero was born in Argentina on 19 February 1993 and is an Argentinian national team footballer who plays as a center forward.
Icardi began his football career in the youth academy of Vecindario. After playing for La Masia, the youth system of La Liga club Barcelona, he began his professional career at Serie A club Sampdoria in 2011. His impressive performances there earned him a transfer to Inter Milan. In July 2013, Icardi became one of Europe’s most prolific forwards, and in his six seasons with the club, from 2014-15 to 2017-18, he played for the club. He became the club’s eighth-highest goalscorer in Serie A in 2015 and became Inter’s eighth-highest scorer of all time. He was also named Inter captain in 2015 at the age of 22. Icardi joined Paris Saint-Germain on a one-year loan in 2019; the following season, PSG acquired him from Inter Milan for €50 million. After a successful season on loan at Galatasaray, where they won the Süper Lig title, Icardi joined the club permanently for a fee of €10 million in 2023.
Frankly, Galatasaray has never had such an annual salary in its history. While Galatasaray’s best players earn between €3-5 million, I believe Icardi being paid €10 million is a serious management error. This will cause future unrest within the team, affecting team play, and the financial cost will be heavy in the long run, as it disrupts financial discipline.
The “Race Enemy” insult and its story
Now, let’s get to the life that concerns us.
Icardi, who was loaned to Paris Saint-Germain in September 2019, made his debut against Strasbourg on 14 September. He scored his first goal for his team on 1 October in a Champions League match away to Galatasaray. During this period, we witnessed the news about Icardi before and after the match, and the fans collectively declaring Icardi a “rapist” and using unspeakable insults. The reason for the insults was that he posed a threat to us and scored in the match. However, the main reason for calling Icardi a rapist before and after the match was related to the story of how he met and married his current wife, Wanda Nara.
Icardi’s current wife, Wanda Nara, was married to former Sampdoria teammate Maxi López. While the couple was still married, Icardi seduced his best friend’s wife and began an affair. Wanda Nara subsequently divorced Maxi López and married Icardi in 2014. Soon after their marriage, the couple had two daughters, Francesca in 2015 and Isabella in 2016.
Heavy Criticism from Maradona
Marya’s marriage to Wanda provoked hostility towards Icardi in Argentina, making him the target of rumors and false allegations from Argentine tabloids. It has been claimed that generalized hatred towards him was a significant factor in his decision to call up to the national team, and even potential calls were heavily criticized by figures like the late Diego Maradona, who was involved in heated arguments with Icardi: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxaSSsHoZy3/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D . Of course, when the person making these criticisms is his compatriot Maradona, considered one of the greatest footballers of all time (see: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cwzfm7vMMZw/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D ), it remains to be seen how serious the criticisms leveled at Icardi are. You understand the extent of it.
Mauro Icardi and his wife Wanda Nara
In April 2014, López refused to shake Icardi’s hand during a Serie A match between Sampdoria and Inter, prompting the press to dub the match the “Wanda derby.” Two years later, López again refused to shake Icardi’s hand in a Serie A match against Torino.
Galatasaray fans immediately highlighted the story of Icardi’s alleged obsession with one of his closest friends’ wives and having an affair with her, using the insult “Icardi the racist.” Because they equate scoring goals in football with scoring and engaging in sexual intercourse, they applied this term to him. Of course, Icardi’s string of goals in matches where PSG defeated Galatasaray by a large margin led Galatasaray fans and Turkish newspapers to intensify the “Icardi the racist” rhetoric and repeat it with hatred.
From insults to anenthusiastic welcome…
Then something completely unexpected happened. Last year, on 7 September 2022, Galatasaray announced that it had begun temporary transfer talks with Icardi. The following day, the agreement announced that Icardi would play for Galatasaray on loan for the 2022-2023 season. The Argentine footballer, who arrived at Atatürk Airport with his wife and children that same night, was greeted by a crowd of yellow-and-red fans. This was a welcome of the highest caliber. Just like top-tier footballers like Hagi, Drogba, Schneider, and Falcao, Icardi was greeted at the airport with great enthusiasm by thousands of Galatasaray fans. I’m sharing a short video of this frenzy of a welcome for you to visualize:
Icardi made his debut against Konyaspor on 16 September 2022, scoring his first goal in a friendly against İstanbulspor. He scored his first professional goal for the yellow-and-reds in a match against Alanyaspor on 23 October 2022. Icardi also attracted attention with his off-footed cross assist to Dries Mertens in the same match. He played a key role with his two goals in the 2-1 Beşiktaş derby and his one goal and two assists in the subsequent 0-7 win over Başakşehir. He entered the World Cup break with a four-goal, three-assist performance. Later, despite injury, Icardi continued to play, increasing his popularity.
The cult Icardi salute
A shame for Gomis
Icardi, one of my favorite Galatasaray strikers at the time, made a strong start last season, replacing Gomis, who, despite being a late addition, had already taken Galatasaray by storm in just three or four matches. Icardi was credited with scoring all the penalties, thus steadily improving his statistics. I also felt it was a shame for our Gomis; he was constantly benched for almost every match, and his potential wasn’t fully realized. After that final season, Gomis left Galatasaray for the second time in heartbreak, heading to Japan.
Of course, in addition to his penalties and free kicks, Icardi also scored some truly classy goals, some of which people fantasize about. But the fact remains that, as a forward, Icardi always received the majority of the ball. Everyone, especially Kerem, was built around this, and the fans encouraged it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx2jNrrLVXP/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
Of course, while trying to score these goals, he also missed some ridiculous ones. We can give an example of Kerem not taking the penalty, but rolling the ball to Icardi, who instead passed it out for an empty goal:
A figure made cult by his hair color and his salute.
But he had already entered the hearts of the fans. Whatever Mauro Icardi did, good or bad, they always embraced him and made him a cult. Even when Icardi missed ridiculous chances, instead of getting angry at him, people blamed each other, claiming they brought bad luck, even though they had nothing to do with the match: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx-z1-1oAV8/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
Another example concerns his hair dye: When Icardi first joined Galatasaray, he wore dark shades. Before the Beşiktaş match, Icardi dyed his hair blonde, becoming a huge hit with football fans and becoming an icon. Many Galatasaray fans, both adults and children, began dyeing their hair blonde like Icardi. Interestingly, his wife, Wanda Nara, who is blonde, dyed her hair darker afterward.
His salute, where he puts both hands behind his ears after scoring goals, also became a cult favorite. Everyone started imitating Icardi’s salute. Even animals are reportedly paying tribute to Icardi: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cxi2TWvoZpP/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
Fans have declared their love for him by choosing Simge’s popular song “Aşkın Olalım” (Let’s Be in Love) for him. This has reached such a point that they play “Aşkın Olalım” (Let’s Be in Love) in the stadium every time Icardi scores a goal. During the championship celebrations, Icardi even took to the field alongside Simge, who also sang the song, and sang a portion of it:
Here’s the original clip:
Icardi at the championship celebrations
The Icardi craze has reached such a point that whenever his wife, Wanda Nara, goes somewhere, if the person in charge is a Galatasaray fan, she’s not charged: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvznK-8gFbE/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D .
Those Who Go Completely Overboard with Their Praise
We’ve witnessed some over-the-top posts on some social media platforms. For example, on the Instagram page Gala Cadde, at https://www.instagram.com/p/CwYFdILrAkz/?img_index=1, he posted the following:
What Totti is to Roma,
What Messi is to Barça,
What Gerard is to Liverpool,
What Lampard is to Chelsea,
Icardi is to Galatasaray!
(I strongly disagree with this view, and I think it’s unfair to many of our past legends.)
During the Manchester United match, he changed his goal celebration to a diving motion with his arms outstretched, which became a cult classic. Here’s Icardi Airlines: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx-Ml3jqn9l/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
Icardi Airlines
Of course, children were also influenced by the adults’ exaggerated cheers and imitated the iconic moves that distinguished Icardi (dying his hair blonde, doing his signature goal salute after each goal, etc.). Here’s a news report about children showing love with their tiny hearts, which is also a game for them: http://cuts2.com/bhfuj
Icardi, who has been transformed into a superhero in Turkey, has even been made to speak Turkish through artificial intelligence: http://cuts2.com/NmtZN . However, he didn’t receive the same respect in his own country. He wasn’t even invited to the last World Cup, which Argentina won.
An Analysis of Mass Emotional Dependency
Now let’s turn to the analysis of this extreme form of mass emotional dependency. Becoming a veritable adolescent male fantasy, Icardi unleashed repressed emotions that many men longed for but couldn’t. His unique style, like his ability to execute Panenka-style kicks, something not everyone on the field could or would dare to do. You can watch one of Icardi’s Panenka penalties below:
These unusual gestures constantly fueled and inflamed the love he felt for him. His story with his sexy wife fueled this fantasy. His ability to maintain a cool demeanor on the pitch, yet display a Mediterranean warmth off it, and his ability to reciprocate the affection of children, fueled this love. However, mutual dependency eventually developed, and as a Galatasaray fan, I don’t find it healthy at all. I told my close circle that this mutual dependency would start to harm Galatasaray, and it already has:
– Icardi, even when the match is 0-0, makes them take fantastic penalty kicks and misses 100% of their scoring opportunities.
– He also missed a penalty against Manchester United due to his lack of seriousness. If he hadn’t scored the last goal, nothing good would have happened for either the team or himself. Still, Icardi fans declared that he was a completely different person, that only someone like Icardi could score and make up for it after missing the penalty. We were all heartbroken, but I don’t think this nonsense was worth it.
– He wants to keep all the possessions, and opponents, knowing this, have started taking precautions against him. Galatasaray can’t even utilize an alternative like Zaha as they wish. – Even when injured, he insists on playing injured, sometimes missing chances that even amateur players wouldn’t miss.
– The outpouring of love for Icardi is damaging and upsetting to players who are incredibly valuable to the team and perhaps even more talented than him, but who don’t receive even a fraction of the same love and respect. Mertens is a prime example. Mertens is one of the best numbers 10s to ever grace Galatasaray, but we can’t even get enough of him. This year he’s fallen out of form. I attribute this entirely to morale and motivation. People should show Icardi their love, but they shouldn’t overlook players like Mertens, who may have even greater accomplishments.
– His desire to command all the ball is also detrimental to teamwork.
Icardi knows that the way to constantly fuel this love is to score goals, so he insists on playing and scoring, even when he’s unable to play. Here, we can say that Icardi is addicted to the love shown by the Galatasaray fans and the song playing in his honor in the stadium. I’d like to point out the potential for this interdependence to become very problematic in the future.
The key player is Okan Buruk
Because, unfortunately, it’s our nation’s nature. They exalt him, then praise him to the skies, then when he starts to decline, or when they realize the severity of the situation, he’s harming the team, they start to criticize him. There’s a chance Icardi could find himself in such a situation. Nevertheless, the important thing here is Galatasaray, and our manager, Okan Buruk, is the one who will prevent Icardi Syndrome from preventing Galatasaray from performing at its best. Despite his occasional mistakes (no one is flawless), I hope that Okan, a son of Galatasaray, whom I’ve always loved and respected and found very close to Galatasaray, will save the team from Icardi Syndrome and show everyone that they can become a true team, with or without Icardi, become champions, and even reach at least one of the quarter- or semi-finals of the Champions League. Otherwise, disappointments and frustrations will continue in our society, which is crushed by economic conditions, experiencing psychological distress, and always tending to produce heroes. Above all, the path to social development will be blocked. Let’s not forget that football is not just football; it’s a stage. When building his team, Okan must consider the impact Galatasaray, Turkey’s largest audience (over 30 million), has on the country and develop the right role models and team structure. Otherwise, as seen in the exaggerated glorification in Icardi’s “Aşkın Olayım” video, which you can watch below, Galatasaray, one of the country’s most influential institutions, will be unable to contribute to the country’s mental progress with the wrong role models and mindsets.
Furthermore, insisting on Icardi will negatively impact the team’s performance throughout the season, leading to a decline in Galatasaray’s performance in the Turkish and Champions Leagues, limiting its potential.
Tag: education
