Mateo Retegui, a surprise arrival in Bergamo last summer, has quickly become the symbol of Atalanta’s new attack. His extraordinary scoring ability has already made him an absolute protagonist in the Italian league, with numbers that impress and place him at the center of Gian Piero Gasperini’s project. Retegui’s arrival was dictated by urgency, following Gianluca Scamacca’s injury, but it proved to be a winning move. The Italo-Argentine center forward quickly took over the role of the team’s main offensive terminal. Gasperini, known for his work on enhancing offensive players, has built a system that enhances Retegui’s talents, allowing him to be decisive both in the league and in Europe.
Numeri da capogiro per Retegui
as La Gazzetta dello Sport points out, with 16 goals in Serie A and 19 total goals in the season (including three in the Champions League), Retegui leads the Italian league’s top scorers list. His average of one goal every 85 minutes puts him above strikers such as Zapata, Muriel, Højlund and Scamacca himself, who have played an important role in Dea’s recent history. The statistical comparison is telling: Muriel scores every 110 minutes, Scamacca every 122, while Zapata and Højlund stand at 161 and 189 minutes per goal, respectively. Retegui not only scores consistently, but does so in different ways, demonstrating great technical variety: six goals with his right, five with his left and as many with his header. No other striker in the major European leagues boasts this versatility in scoring with at least five goals scored per type. Added to this is his average number of shots per game, which at 2.7 conclusions places him among the best in the league. And while Zapata and Muriel reached 1.3 and 1.4 chances per contest, respectively, Retegui stands at just below that (0.9), still demonstrating excellent positioning and game-reading skills. The forward’s future is also bright from a national team perspective. Luciano Spalletti, Italy’s technical commissioner, is closely watching the player’s development, who will bring to the Azzurri team not only his instincts under goal, but also the grit and ability to sacrifice that distinguish him.
The article Retegui, the Atalanta bomber who scores a goal every 85 minutes comes from CalcioAtalanta.
