In Retegui and Kean, Italy are finally spoilt again for in-form strikers | Nicky Bandini

It feels like only yesterday that Roberto Mancini was lamenting the scarce selection of centre-forwards available to him as Italy manager. He returned to the theme repeatedly through his final few months in the job, highlighting how few domestic players were even starting up front for the nation’s top clubs. “It makes things difficult for us,” he said. “Let’s hope it’s not an irreversible phenomenon.”

Luciano Spalletti has not dwelled on this subject since he succeeded Mancini in the role, but plenty of others were ready to say it for him as Italy crashed out early from Euro 2024. Starting up front in their last-16 defeat to Switzerland was Gianluca Scamacca, making his 20th appearance for Italy and yet to score his second goal. The only other recognised No 9 in the squad was Mateo Retegui, who had struck a modest seven times in his first Serie A season with Genoa.

How surprising it is to look at that division’s scoring charts eight months later and see two Italians leading the way. Retegui is first with more goals (20) than starts (18). Moise Kean is next on 15. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, this is the first time since 2014 that the top two spots have been held by Italian players so late into a campaign.

What changed? Neither player was a hot pick to become capocannoniere before this season began, not even after Retegui secured a late August move to Atalanta – signed as emergency cover for the injured Scamacca. Lautaro Martínez, Dusan Vlahovic and Marcus Thuram were the bookies’ favourites but so far only the latter has cracked double figures. Only Thuram, on 13 goals, has a hope of catching the two Italians on present form.

Retegui added four goals to his tally on Saturday, leading Atalanta in a 5-0 demolition of Verona. He was aided by some woeful defending, but the chances were ruthlessly taken. Three were scored with a first touch, Retegui twice forcing home rebounds and another time finishing nonchalantly across goal from Marten de Roon’s cross. For his second goal, Retegui wrong-footed defenders on a drag-back turn and buried the ball into the bottom corner.

He was writing his name into Atalanta’s record books as he went: the first player in their history to score a first-half hat-trick in Serie A. “In the Netherlands we have a word ‘Retegoed’ which means ‘pretty damn good’,” wrote De Roon on Instagram. “I think I’m going to start a petition to change Retegui’s name in Retegoed.”

Mateo Retegui calmly finishes past Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò in Atalanta’s 5-0 win. Photograph: Alberto Lingria/Reuters

Kean’s performance for Fiorentina against Internazionale on Thursday might have been even more impressive. Although he ‘only’ scored twice, he had tormented the defending champions long before he finally beat Yann Sommer with a header midway through the second-half. Kean had almost broken the deadlock twice before the interval, the first time with a close-range header of his own, aimed too close to the keeper, and the second time by releasing Dodô for a one-on-one that the Brazilian fired wide.

It was Luca Ranieri who eventually grabbed the first goal from a corner, but Kean’s header doubled Fiorentina’s advantage. He then punished a sloppy pass to steal in for another, completing a shocking 3-0 rout over Inter.

This game had technically started on 2 December, before being suspended in the 17th minute following the cardiac arrest suffered by Edoardo Bove. After waiting two months for the resumption, it will be fascinating to see what adjustments Inter and Atalanta make in the four-day gap leading into their return match in Milan on Monday night.

It will be intriguing too, to see how Spalletti uses Retegui and Kean for a two-legged Nations League quarter-final against Germany next month. The Italy manager offered a thoughtful analysis of both players’ development in an interview with Gazzetta over the weekend, observing that they remained very different models of centre-forward – the first a penalty-box striker, then second more free roaming, but that each had made clear progress in rounding out their games.

Asked if their prolific seasons were the result of finding teams and managers that suited their talents, Spalletti replied that there was “no doubt”. Retegui, who only moved to Italy in 2023 from Argentina, where he was born, gets far better service on a title-challenging Atalanta side than he ever received at Genoa. Kean, after years as an impact sub at Juventus, has finally been given the chance to start regularly again for a Fiorentina side that prizes his explosiveness in the transitions.

Luciano Spalletti has stressed that Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean are two very different weapons for Italy’s attack. Photograph: Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse/Shutterstock

But Spalletti also sought to redirect credit to the players themselves for working on the things that they needed to improve. “Inside the area [Retegui] is still a marksman: he controls the ball, he turns and he shoots. But he has grown with his back to goal, the way he offers for his teammates, gives them an option for the one-two, comes toward and helps the team. He still holds his position, but he’s more mobile, and gives opponents fewer reference points.”

Spalletti noted how Kean has sharpened his finishing but suggested that this was only the most obvious element. “He has got better at coming to carve out those spaces in the area. Did you see his goal against Genoa? He follows the ball by turning as it comes across his body then hits it with the outside of his boot: this is the kind of goal [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic scores, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“And the one he scored against Inter? With his head? A pure centre-forward’s goal. He went in front of the defender first, to let them see him, then slipped off to ‘hide’, then he squirted out again to go score. It’s the first thing you need to know how to do as an attacker: hide. Because the defender is comfortable when they can see their man and the ball. This is only the broad principle, but it often works.”

After such a dismal chapter in the recent history of the national team – who have failed to qualify for the last two World Cups – few will be getting ahead of themselves. Retegui and Kean have both had their moments playing for the Azzurri but their combined return of 11 goals in 37 games is hardly overwhelming.

There are still few signals of any wider wave of goalscoring talent coming through. Lorenzo Lucca is having a strong season at Udinese, his nine goals almost a third of the team’s total, and the 24-year-old certainly catches the eye at 6ft7in. But a look back at the data for 2024 shows that only three Italians – Retegui, Kean and Bologna winger Riccardo Orsolini scored into double figures across any of Europe’s top five leagues. Comparisons with France (10 players in double figures), England (nine), Germany (nine) and Spain (five) are all unfavourable.

Asked whether the attack was now the least of Italy’s problems, Spalletti kept things in context. “At the moment that’s how it is,” he said. “And it is always good to stress that ‘at the moment’.”

Atalanta’s win, combined with another draw for Napoli, brought them back to within five points of first place. Fiorentina are three points outside the Champions League places heading into Monday night’s rematch with Inter. At the moment, Atalanta are in contention for the Scudetto and Fiorentina a top-four finish. Serie A’s two most prolific players are a big part of the reason why.