Mateo Retegui didn’t even speak Italian when he was first called up to the Italian national team. Born and raised in Argentina, the young striker wasn’t on the radar of most Azzurri supporters when Robert Mancini selected him for a squad in March 2023.
Having played his entire career up to that point in Argentina, few in Italy hadn’t even heard of Retegui.
They know all about him now, though. Not only is Retegui – eligible for the Azzurri through his grandfather – a regular for Italy, he is leading the Serie A scoring chart this season having netted 10 times in 10 games for Atalanta. While many questioned the Bergamo club’s summer signing of the 25-year-old, Retegui is flourishing as the next great Italian forward.
Italy has produced more than its fair share of great forwards over the decades. Roberto Baggio, Paolo Rossi, Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti, Gianluca Vialli and Christian Vieri, not to mention a few others, were all legitimate legends, but the country hasn’t had an elite level striker for a long time.
This is partly why there is so much excitement around Retegui. He is the sort of player Italy has spent the last decade looking for with Gian Piero Gasperini getting the best out of a player who scored just seven league goals for Genoa last season. The Atalanta manager has helped push Retegui to a level few believed he would ever reach.
Retegui has scored all sorts of goals for Atalanta this season. Three of his 10 league goals have come from his head. He has scored goals off both feet. He has poached inside the six-yard box and has also scored from outside the box – as he did by guiding home a finish from 18 yards out against Verona last weekend.
Gasperini has focused Retegui by adopting a 3-4-2-1 shape that sees Charles De Ketelaere and Ademola Lookman occupy the areas either side of Atalanta’s new centre forward with wing backs also positioned high to add another dimension to the attack. With Gianluca Scamacca out injured, Retegui became the new focal point.
While it is pertinent to note that Retegui is out-performing his Expected Goals (xG) of 6.8 in Serie A this season, that still places him among the division’s best performing players. Only Dušan Vlahović (7.4) and Moise Kean (6.8) are even close to the 25-year-old and neither have got to double figures in actual goals.
At Genoa, Retegui earned a reputation for being a hard-working, but limited player. His perceived lack of technical ability was frequently highlighted with his former employers not exactly distraught to lose a forward whose all-round game was believed to be inadequate. €28m was seen as fair value.
Under Gasperini, this perception has drastically changed. Retegui is doing a better job of linking up with the players around him, earning his place in an Atalanta side that plays a brand of modern, dynamic football. The understanding between Lookman and Retegui is particularly strong, combining for two league goals so far this season.
“He’s a great player but also a calm guy,” said Luciano Spalletti after the last international window which saw Retegui score in back-to-back UEFA Nations League games against Belgium and Israel. “He’s lethal inside the box and has learned to work more with the team. He will become a top player… he’s perfect.”
With Spalletti building for the 2026 World Cup, Retegui is expected to be a key figure for his adopted national team. Euro 2024 was a disappointment as Italy exited in the round of 16, but the Azzurri’s form since then has been encouraging with Spalletti’s team unbeaten in matches against France, Israel and Belgium. Retegui has featured in every game.
Atalanta’s business model as a club is to be a springboard in the transfer market. Indeed, La Dea have sold at least one prize asset every summer for the last few years. This summer, it was Teun Koopmeiners. Last summer, it was Rasmus Højlund. The summer before that, it was Cristian Romero.
The way Retegui is going, he might be next to draw interest from Europe’s elite, but he already appears to be in the perfect place for his development. Atalanta are playing in the Champions League this season and are once again competitive near the top end of the Serie A table. Retegui is spearheading a team on an upward trajectory.
Retegui’s career path has been unorthodox. He moved through several clubs in Argentina including Boca Juniors before making the switch to Serie A last summer. Now, he is the most prolific Italian goalscorer of his generation and is improving with every match. The long list of Azzurri legends that includes Baggio, Rossi, De Piero and co. could soon have a new name.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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