Quote from: Uruhara on Today at 07:17:46 AM

Quote from: Ale88 on Today at 02:18:00 AM

Quote from: Uruhara on July 12, 2025, 08:42:56 PM

Well, everyone was quite surprised by Mateo Retegui's decision to join the SPL club, Al-Qadisiyah. Besides being at the peak of his career, he was also the top scorer in Serie A last season. So his decision to leave Atalanta was completely unexpected. The club seems to have agreed to this. And Fabrizio Romano also mentioned this. So it seems this transfer is indeed real.¹ Well, I hope he can maintain his quality there. Because that way, he will remain reliable for the Italian national team. However, if he declines after joining the SPL club, his position as the main striker of the Italian national team will be slightly threatened.² So I hope Mateo Retegui can continue to prove that he will not weaken and will even show his best after joining Al-Qadisiyah.

I'm Italian and I'm not that surprised by Retegui's choice, and for sure I can't blame him, his decision totally makes sense: Roberto Mancini, former Italy's National team manager, found him in a mediocre Argentinian team and called him up, after that Genoa bought him and the following year he became the Serie A topscorer with Atalanta: in little over two years his life changed completely because before he was making little money, then with Atalanta he was making 1.5 mln per year and now they offered him 10-12 times more. I'm sure that he would have never thought that some day he would have earned all that money per year, it's a ridiculous amount of money for a player like him which is good but he's no star so, again, he made the right choice, it's was too much money to be turned down.

Ah, I understand now. I only knew Mateo Retegui after he joined Atalanta. Since then, he's been attracting a lot of attention and becoming quite famous. It's safe to say his career is at its peak. And, if I think about it, with simple logic, it would have been quite difficult to turn down such a substantial salary offer. The club initially rejected the offer. But then the club asked for more in the transfer, and Al-Qadisiyah agreed. And now, playing in the SPL isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some SPL players have even caught the attention of European clubs. So, moving to the SPL isn't the end of the world. If a player can continue to perform well here, he'll remain highly sought after by European teams, even if he plays in the SPL. I initially thought Mateo Retegui had ambitions for a longer career in Europe. But it turns out he's currently opted for the SPL. And almost everyone benefits from this transfer. Al-Qadisiyah has secured the player they wanted, Mateo Retegui will receive a high salary, and Atalanta has profited handsomely from his transfer. I'm just a little concerned about his place in the Italian national team. That's all.

I'm sure he checked pros and cons of his choice because he's already 26 years old, probably he's going to stay at lest 3 years in Saudi Arabia, that means he (eventually) would come back to Europe when he's 30 years old: at that point I don't think any big team will be interested in signing him, he would join a mid-tab team and that's it. But his bank account will be incredibly high so, again, smart move. Juventus, the team I support, was kind of interested in him but they would have never offered him more than 3-4 mln per year, and we are rebuilding the whole team so also joining Juventus would have been a bet.