Atalanta could turn from one Italy international to another, asking Genoa for Mateo Retegui to replace injured Gianluca Scamacca, along with Iceland’s Orri Oskarsson.
Football Italia transfer expert Matteo Moretto reports the latest updates on Atalanta’s search for a new centre-forward.
It was confirmed this evening that Scamacca tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during yesterday’s pre-season friendly with Parma.
He had surgery to reconstruct the ACL in Rome and is expected to be out of action for at least six months.
With that in mind, and El Bilal Toure also potentially on the way out, La Dea need new strikers and quickly.
Retegui and Oskarsson both on Atalanta radar
According to Tuttomercatoweb, the latest top target would be Scamacca’s fellow Italy international Retegui, who was battling him for the starting spot at EURO 2024.
He turned 25 in April and had a decent first Serie A season, contributing seven goals and two assists in 29 games.
Genoa signed Retegui from Tigre for €14.5m last summer and owe his former club a 20 per cent cut of the sell-on fee.
It is not the first time he has been linked with the exit from Marassi, as Juventus and Bologna also considered a swoop.
Moretto wrote in his Caught Offside’s Daily Briefing column that there could be more than one new forward in Bergamo this summer, as Atalanta are also targeting 19-year-old Orri Oskarsson.
It would not be cheap, as he only recently signed a new contract with FC Copenhagen and that makes the asking price €20m, but Girona FC are already showing interest too.
Considering his lack of experience, it is likely La Dea would see Oskarsson as an additional option rather than the only replacement for Scamacca.