It took Atalanta three days to find a replacement for Gianluca Scamacca, who just tore his ACL, as they quickly reached an agreement with Genoa for Mateo Retegui. They’ll play €22M plus €3M add-ons, Mattia Moretto reports (via SOSFanta).
The striker will sign a four-year contract. The Rossoblù will record a decent ‘plusvalenza’ since they paid nearly €15M to acquire him from Tigre last year. He scored 7 goals and provided 2 assists in 29 matches in his first Serie A season. He was hampered by an ankle injury early on.
Atalanta will bring in Retegui for the medicals and the other formalities on Thursday. The Boca Juniors product also starred for Estudiantes and Talleres earlier in this career. He has 12 caps and 4 goals with Italy.
Per Alfredo Pedullà, Genoa considered M’Bala Nzola as a substitute, but he’s very close to joining Lens on loan. The Albert Gudmundsson deal with Fiorentina has been put on hold due to the departure of his teammate.
Our Take on Atalanta Signing Retegui
It’s not a great spot to be in since Scamacca is eventually going to come back, so they needed somebody decent but without breaking the bank since they’ll have to coexist in the future. He wasn’t too impressive last season, but he has the right attitude and intensity, takes care of the dirty work and wasn’t playing in a very offensive side. They surely aren’t low on goal scorers even if the center-forward isn’t producing in spades.
If Vitinha and Junior Messias stay healthy, Genoa had the option of selling one striker without too much damage, and the Italian Argentine is easier to replace than Gudmundsson. Instead, a double departure would be an issue.
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |