It was the Argentine ‘9’ that Mancini called for Italy

Italy coach Roberto Mancini has been troubled by a lack of attacking troops and was surprised to announce the call-up of an Argentine striker to face the looming qualifying matches for Euro 2024.

The player in question is Mateo Retegui, a 23-year-old striker who plays for Club Atlético Tigre, on loan from Boca Juniors. After the first seven days, he led the scoring table of the Argentine championship with six goals.

a sicilian grandfather

Born in San Fernando (Argentina), Retegui has an Italian passport due to his grandfather’s Sicilian origins, which is why he has the option of playing at full level with the national teams of both countries despite playing with the Albiceleste in the Sub- category 19 and Sub-20.

Although his name has been circulating in the press for several weeks, Mancini has confirmed that he has included him in the squad for the upcoming matches against England (March 23) and Malta (March 26) at the start of the qualifying phase for Euro 2024.

Mancini, surprised by his response

“We have been following him for a long time, he has been a starter in the Argentine championship for two years and he has qualities that unfortunately we lack at this time,” he revealed on Monday night during a program on DAZN.

“We thought he didn’t want to come, on the contrary he said yes right away and we called him,” ‘Mancio’ advanced before announcing the list on Friday.

Italy, absent from the last two World Cups although it won Euro 2020, has suffered for several years from a lack of center forwards, relying almost exclusively on Ciro Immobile, Lazio’s goalscorer and 33-year-old .

Substitutes without minutes

Other possible ‘9’ are injured or out of shape due to lack of minutes at their clubs, such as Giacomo Raspadori (replacing Victor Osimhen at struggling Naples), Andrea Belotti (in Tammy Abraham’s shadow at Roma ), Gianluca Scamacca (second choice at West Ham) or Moise Kean (irregular at Juventus).