Retegui unfazed by Italy opinions on Saudi move

Mateo Retegui brushed off any criticism for his move to the Saudi Pro League as he claimed he was not worried about his place in the Italian national team.

The 26-year-old completed the switch from Atalanta to Al-Qadsiah for a reported €68.3m during the summer after finishing as the leading scorer in Serie A last season (25 goals).

Retegui has scored three times in five Saudi Pro League games so far, while he has also directly contributed to nine goals in six World Cup qualifiers for Italy (five goals, four assists).

Despite reported interest from Italian clubs such as AC Milan, Retegui opted for a move to Saudi Arabia instead.

And although there was rumoured disappointment from the higher-ups at the national team, the striker did not concern himself with those talks.

"There were several clubs who were interested, but the negotiations were not successful, whereas Al Qadsiah were the most concrete and the team that wanted me the most," Retegui told Al Arabiya.

!I didn't talk to [Roberto] Mancini [former Italy and Saudi Arabia boss] about it. I talked to my friend Fernandez, who was my teammate at Tigre, and coach Michel convinced me too.

"With all due respect to Gabriele Gravina and the Federation, I have a good rapport with them and they can have their opinion, but I don't want to talk about this, as my comments might be distorted."