Mauro Icardi's return to the Inter Milan squad for the first time since being stripped of the club captaincy over a month ago has been put back, with coach Luciano Spalletti saying he is not ready to play.
With Lautaro Martinez out for a fortnight, Icardi -- who returned to full training during the international break -- had been expected to be in the squad to face Lazio on Sunday.
"In a certain sense, it was like having a new player because he's not been with us for a while," Spalletti told a news conference on Saturday.
"He's been training and, in some ways, we've still got to reinsert him in the way the team plays in training.
"In view of everything that's happened lately I still don't think he's able to help the team, so he's not part of the squad tomorrow."
Keita Balde is expected to start a game that sees both teams in a battle for Champions League qualification next season.
On Feb. 13 -- the eve of Inter's Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna - the club announced that Samir Handanovic had been handed the captaincy instead of Icardi.
Shortly afterwards, the squad for that fixture was revealed and Icardi did not feature. Spalletti revealed later that Icardi had been included but had chosen to withdraw from the trip.
The striker has not featured in any of Inter's nine games since then, with defender Andre Ranocchia used as an emergency forward on occasions and 19-year-old Davide Merola and 16-year-old Sebastiano Esposito given debuts.
Inter's next fixture comes at Genoa on Wednesday, when it will be 53 days since Icardi's last appearance.