Retegui reports a week early for Italy training camp ahead of World Cup play-offs | OneFootball

Italy national team striker Mateo Retegui is back in Florence and is reportedly working individually one week early ahead of Italy’s World Cup play-off campaign coming up at the end of the month.

Retegui’s Italy training camp has already begun

Retegui currently plays for Al-Qadsiah, who sit in fourth place in the Saudi Pro League standings. The Argentine-born Italy international has provided 15 goals from 25 league outings so far this season.

Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, there will be no Saudi Pro League matches this coming weekend, which means that compared to the rest of his Italy teammates, Retegui has an extra week off ahead of the World Cup play-offs, which kick off on March 26.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Retegui has already arrived in Florence, where Italy’s Coverciano training base is located, has rented an apartment nearby and is expecting to train individually every day until the rest of the squad reports for duty after their league fixtures this coming weekend.

According to the Pink Paper, Retegui was concerned about the long pause that he would have had between matches, and decided to return to Italy a week early after phone calls with the FIGC and CT Gennaro Gattuso.

UDINE – OCTOBER 14: Mateo Retegui celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between against Israel at Stadio Friuli on October 14, 2025 in Udine. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Tuesday’s report states that Retegui’s training camp ‘has already begun’.

Retegui is one of several strikers expected to be called up to the Azzurri squad for this month’s World Cup deciders against Northern Ireland and either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fiorentina’s Moise Kean, Inter’s Pio Esposito and Atalanta’s Giacomo Raspadori are also expected to be included among Gattuso’s selections.

Retegui is Italy’s leading goalscorer since Gattuso was called in to replace Luciano Spalletti as CT last summer. The national team has scored 19 goals from six matches since then: Retegui with five, Kean with four, Esposito with three and Raspadori and Gianluca Mancini with two apiece. Matteo Politano, Sandro Tonali and Alessandro Bastoni have one each.