BERGAMO, ITALY – APRIL 13: Mateo Retegui of Atalanta celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during … More
Atalanta are on the verge of losing star striker Matteo Retegui.
Retegui is closing in on a major move to Saudi Arabia side Al-Qadsiah in a staggering $70m deal.
Retegui has only been in Bergamo a year following a $30m move from Genoa last summer, and his potential departure from Serie A will bank Atalanta a healthy $40m profit.
The Italo-Argentine won last season’s Capocannoniere award — top goal scorer — award after banging in 25 goals in 36 games in Serie A as Atalanta finished third behind Napoli and Inter.
Retegui spent only two years in Europe before making the move to the Middle East. Called up to play for the Italian national team by Roberto Mancini in early 2023 due to the alarming lack of Italian strikers, Retegui scored on his Azzurri debut.
Playing his football at Argentine side Tigres on loan from Boca Juniors, Retegui earned a move to Genoa in the summer of 2023.
His first season in Italy saw him finish with a respectable seven goals from 29 games in a Rossoblu side that solely aimed for survival.
Atalanta took a punt on him in the aftermath of Gianluca Scamacca’s ACL injury in a pre-season friendly last summer, and Retegui paid La Dea back in full.
It’s believed that the 26-year-old will earn a yearly salary of around $23m, a colossal figure considering his wages in Bergamo amounted to $3.1m per-season.
If the deal goes ahead, Retegui would become Atalanta’s second most-expensive transfer deal of all-time, just ahead of Teun Koopmeiners’ move to Juventus last summer and behind Rasmus Hojlund, who left in 2023 to join Manchester United for $80m.
The move will be a big blow to new coach Ivan Juric, who has the mammoth task of trying to follow up Gian Piero Gasperini in the Atalanta hot-seat.
Gasperini finally left the club after nine highly-successful years, in which he won the Europa League in 2024 and cemented Atalanta’s status as a regular top four contender.
Juric, whose last spell in Serie A was the disastrous two-month stint in charge of Roma, will be under pressure to build on the foundation laid by Gasperini.
Atalanta could turn to Udinese’s Lorenzo Lucca as a replacement, with the tall Italian also wanted by Napoli.
Moreover, Napoli’s Giacomo Raspadori is another on the wanted list, as is Red Bull Salzburg’s Adam Daghim.
The Retegui move could unblock the transfer market in Italy, with clubs short of cash and needing to offload talent. A move for Raspadori could help Napoli get on with their transfer plans, as Aurelio De Laurentiis attempts to arm Antonio Conte with the talent he desires in order to retain the Scudetto.
Moreover, Ademola Lookman is another Atalanta player who could leave, with the Nigerian wanting to leave as early as last summer.
Lookman fell out with Gasperini earlier this season, but with the latter’s departure the issue appeared to be resolved.
The end result is that Atalanta could have a very different strike force next season, with both Retegui and Lookman out the door.
How the club react in the weeks ahead remains to be seen.
