Ambitious Al Qadsiah sign Mateo Retegui, a player at the peak of his powers

Italy striker has just finished season as Serie A's top-scorer with Atalanta

Mateo Retegui scored 25 goals in 36 Serie A games for Atalanta last season. Reuters

Al Qadsiah have completed the signing of Atalanta striker Mateo Retegui, last season's top scorer in Serie A, in a deal reported to be worth around €70 million.

In one of the most intriguing Saudi Pro League transfers of the summer so far, Retegui arrives in Khobar at the height of his powers, joining an ambitious, Aramco-backed project determined to disrupt the domestic hierarchy.

Retegui, 26, is a classic number nine who has just enjoyed a spectacular season in Italy, scoring 25 goals in 36 Serie A games, six clear of next-best Moise Kean at Fiorentina.

Retegui inherited a love of sport from his father, a hockey player who represnted Argentina at the Olympics, a sport Retegui showed promise in when he was younger until the lure of football became too strong.

He started his career in his native Argentina at Boca Juniors but would only make one appearance at the club over five years. He spent various spells on loan at Estudiantes, Talleres and Tigre.

It was at Tigre where Retegui found his scoring touch, notching 35 goals in 70 games over two seasons. But it was the Italian national team's desperate lack of strike power that would take Retegui's career in a new direction.

Despite Italy's triumph at Euro 2020, by early 2023 then head coach Roberto Mancini was growing disillusioned. “I don't know why there are so few strikers,” he lamented. “We are very limited going forward.”

In his desperate search for a reliable number nine, he reached out to an old friend Juan Sebastian Veron, the former Argentina midfielder and an ex-teammate of Mancini's during their time at Lazio, who pointed him towards a relatively unknown forward at Tigre: a certain Mateo Retegui.

Intrigued, Mancini dispatched his most trusted adviser, Mauro Sandreani, whose primary role with the national team was to scout and assess emerging talent. His detailed report noted a striker with an eye for goal and physical presence in the box.

There were limitations: some tactical rawness, a lack of finesse off the ball, but the potential was unmistakable. Italy needed a striker, especially one with scoring instincts, moving quickly to entice a player with family roots in Sicily and Genoa.

Retegui remembers his first encounter with Mancini well: “I arrived at midnight, and he was waiting for me. ‘Do you know why you’re here?’ he asked. ‘To play,’ I said. ‘To play, yes,’ he replied, ‘but above all – to score goals.’ ‘Perfect,’ I told him, ‘I live for that.’”

And on March 23, 2023, he did exactly that – scoring on his debut against England in Naples. For a player whose great-grandfather once left Sicily seeking a better life, it was footballing fate.

A move to Serie A followed, joining Genoa for €15 million in the summer of 2023. Under Alberto Gilardino, Retegui offered glimpses of his potential but remained a work in progress, still adjusting to a new league and learning the language of Italian football.

He would finish the first season with nine goals in 31 games across competitions, enough to earn him a €28m move to Atlanta. And it was in Bergamo, under Gian Piero Gasperini, that he really blossomed.

In Gasperini’s 3-4-2-1, a system built to amplify his strengths, Retegui would not only finish as Serie A's top scorer but also joint-fourth in the assists chart. Once known for his directness and physicality, Retegui had grown into a more complete forward.

“Retegui has had an extraordinary season,” said Gasperini. “He has scored with his right foot, his left, his head – thanks also to the contribution of the team. His goals have been decisive for our campaign.”

That form caught attention of clubs across the globe and as the spotlight widened, the striker grew restless. As he weighed up his next move, a new challenge emerged, not from one of Europe’s giants, but from a club looking to make waves in a rapidly improving league.

In Saudi Arabia, Al Qadsiah have undergone a transformation of their own, having been taken over by state oil giant Saudi Aramco in the summer of 2023.

It was a move that immediately breathed life – and an unprecedented financial muscle – into the second-tier club that had become known for yo-yoing between the top two divisions.

Former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler was appointed as manager and tasked with leading a full-scale rebuild that saw sixteen new signings arrive.

It looked like Fowler was on track as Al Qadsiah started the 2023/24 season with six wins and two draws from eight league matches, leaving them one point off top spot, with his lone defeat coming in the King's Cup against top-flight Al Taawoun.

But just four months in, Spanish sporting director Carlos Anton decided to change tact, sacking Fowler and bringing in the experienced Michel, a countryman who had previously coached at clubs including Sevilla, Marseille and Olympiacos.

Al Qadsiah would go on to secure promotion as first division champions and return to SPL football for first time since 2021.

That momentum would continue back in the Saudi Pro League. Armed with Aramco’s resources, Al Qadsiah secured headline signings Nacho, the former Real Madrid captain and Spain defender, Uruguayan midfielder Nahitan Nandez from Cagliari, and veteran Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Marseille.

The team would finish the 2024/25 in fourth place, behind champions Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr. Al Qadsiah boasted the league's best defence, conceding 31 goals.

A run to the King’s Cup final – where they would lose 3-1 to Ittihad with Karim Benzema scoring twice – would help cement their arrival among Saudi Arabian football's elite.

With Aubameyang moving back to Marseille, Al Qadsiah turned their attentions to Retegui. And despite warnings that a move to the kingdom could jeopardise his role with the national team, Retegui has agreed to the move.

Atalanta drove a hard bargain and the deal is the club’s second-biggest sale, behind only Rasmus Hojlund’s move to Manchester United.

Predictably, the Italians aren’t happy, but even Gazzetta dello Sport acknowledged the growing appeal of Saudi Arabia, calling it “the opportunity of a lifetime”.

At Al Qadsiah, he finds a club that mirrors his own trajectory: once overlooked, now ambitious and unafraid to dream bigger. The SPL has acquired a player at the peak of his powers.