Icardi has established himself as one of the leading strikers in Serie A and world football since joining Inter from Sampdoria in 2013.
However, Argentina international Icardi has not played since the 26-year-old was stripped of the captaincy in February amid uncertainty over his future.
Asked about Icardi – who has scored nine league goals and 15 in all competitions this season – Argentine great Batistuta said: “He has always scored goals and it seems to me he still has a much greater potential.
“He can show us he can do a lot more than he has shown so far. We could say that, as a player, he is already an accomplished one.”
Icardi returned to training this week, having not played since team-mate Samir Handanovic was handed the captaincy last month.
The disgruntled star – who has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus and Napoli – claimed to have been injured but Inter initially said tests could not uncover a specific issue.
With questions still being asked about Inter’s decision to remove Icardi as captain, general manager Giuseppe Marotta refused to reveal the reason.
“In a club, there are some dynamics that cannot be made public,” Marotta said. “The decisions must be made with a sense of responsibility.
“We didn’t want to punish anyone, that’s just a fact. We reached that point because our job within the club is to protect the coach with the objective of respecting the ‘community’ of the squad. I am not talking about the Icardi issue.
“If you want to step out there on to the field and deliver, you need a team spirit. One of the most important objectives of a club and coach is to respect that.”
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