When national coach Roberto Mancini announced the squad for the games against England and Malta last Friday, he conjured up a player who was completely unknown in Europe in Mateo Retegui. In his career so far, the centre-forward has only been chasing goals in Argentina. Thanks to his Italian roots, the 23-year-old can also be nominated for the Squadra Azzurra – to Mancini’s delight.
During the squad presentation, the European champion complained about his attacking options: “We have problems in attack. Raspadori plays little, not much, but for us it is important. Scamacca is coming back from injury and doesn’t play often.” With Retegui, Mancini gets help from outside. However, the decision was not a quick shot.
“We’ve been following him for a while”explains the national coach, “He’s still young. Two years in the Argentine championship as a regular. He has qualities that we unfortunately lack. We thought he didn’t want to come, but he said yes straight away and we got him.”
National players via detours
Looking at Retegui’s bare numbers, Mancini’s choice for the 1.86m right-footed player is clear. He has been on loan to Club Atlético Tigre from his training club Boca Juniors since early 2022. In his first season, the attacker was top scorer with 19 goals in 27 league games. Retegui leads the list with six goals after eight games this season. It didn’t initially look like the clipper would have such a steep career.
At 17, Retegui moved from River Plate to arch-rivals Boca Juniors, of all places. Boca only played a total of eight minutes before being loaned to Estudiantes and CA Talleres. But it wasn’t until Tigre that Retegui finally made his breakthrough as a professional six years after leaving River Plate.
So it’s no wonder that the youngster hasn’t been called up for a single Argentine youth team. Against the Three Lions on Thursday (8:45 p.m.) the clipper could play an international match for the first time in his career – and at the same time put himself in the shop window on the big stage. Because the nomination for Italy should serve as a springboard for a career in Europe.
Germany also a goal
In an interview with the ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’, Retegui’s father Carlos doesn’t mince his words: “Yes, I can confirm that many European clubs have been striving for him, Europe is his obvious dream. By whom? Everywhere, interest from Italy, Spain, Germany and even the Premier League.” How good the chances are for a move to the Bundesliga is unclear. The big clubs from Italy have long since put out feelers for the soon-to-be national player.
The two Milan clubs Inter and AC as well as AS Roma handed their visiting cards to Retegui. “Right now Mateo is only thinking about the Azzurra and Tigre. And he doesn’t have to think about anything else.”, reassured Retegui Sr. For “everything else” the performances will ensure Italy. And if not, Mancini has at least put the goalscorer on the map. The ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ is certain: “Retegui is the real nine that Mancini was looking for.”
