He works for Tigre, in the Argentine First Division. He never played in European football, but Mancini is confident in his figure.
Roberto Mancini surprised locals and strangers in his first call of 2023. The reason? He cited Mateo Retegui, the Argentinian, nationalized Italian, who never played in European football. Against England, in a game that corresponds to the Euro 2024 qualifying stage, the striker entered the field as a starter and, in addition to a great performance, also scored the discount for the Azzurra in the 2-1 loss.
The summary of Italy vs. England, the game that marked Retegui’s debut
Who is Mateo Retegui, the Argentine striker who plays for the Italian national team
He was born in San Fernando, Buenos Aires, on April 29, 1999. And he began to play hockey, since his mother and father (he was the coach of the Argentina women’s hockey team) practiced this sport. However, football appeared in his life…
He started playing in the lower divisions of Boca Juniors, where he made his debut as a professional in the highest category. Then, without so much room in the blue-and-yellow ensemble, He was loaned to Estudiantes de La Plata, later he was transferred to Talleres de Córdoba and later to Tigre.
He also had his time in the Sub-20 in Argentina but was never called up to the senior team. Meanwhile, on March 18, 2023, he received his first call-up to the Italian national team, starting a new story in his career.
Mancini’s view of Retegui
“He reminds me of other Argentinian players who have been to Italy. He is a young boy, he needs time to adapt, but he has qualities. He is intelligent, educated, let’s hope for the best. He is a classic striker, I see many compare him to the (German) Denis, he reminds me more of Batistuta when he arrived in Italy, he is young, he has to adapt, but I don’t think it will take long Mancini himself emphasized.
What Scaloni said about Retegui’s call
“I’m in favor of not trying to convince anyone and especially screwing up something we’re not convinced of. It happened to Marcos Senesi, we called him, we talked to him. We said to him, ‘maybe we’ll call you up’ . It seems to me there’s no point in ending a career if you don’t think it’s time. Let’s hope that if he plays for Italy he will do well, and there is no point thinking about whether he is in Argentina or not, because now we were not convinced to call him up. From there maybe he can become a great player for the Italian team later on, but the reality is that today we can’t tell him ‘don’t go to Italy because maybe you can come to Argentina’. And if he doesn’t come later? I cut the career short. Unfortunately we are not doing the best for the Argentina team, but we have to think about the boy. We have guys in that position who we think is okay, will show later in the future, I’ll see if I beat him or not.”
Source: Goal