Before last season, the name Mateo Retegui was one Aston Villa fans won’t have heard about, and might still not be that familiar with.
However, the Argentina born striker became a big thing in Italy when he was called up by Roberto Mancini to represent the country, scoring two goals in his first three games.
This got a lot of people talking, and seemingly also caught the eye of Unai Emery and his scouts, as Aston Villa are now credited with interest in the 24-year-old, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Currently on loan at Tigre in Argentina from Boca Juniors until the end of the calendar year, Retegui has been a target for Genoa in Serie A after their promotion from Serie B.
The belief from Gazzetta is that a transfer to the Italian club could happen as early as Friday (today), but that’s barring any movement from bigger clubs.
They state that, in the last few hours, Aston Villa and other Premier League clubs have been ‘exerting a disruptive action’ in Genoa’s plans.
However, what works in the Italian club’s favour is that they could offer him guaranteed first-team football, which might not be the case at Villa Park.
There is ‘cautious optimism’ that a deal can be struck by the Italian club, but it seemingly all depends on whether or not Emery decides to pull the trigger.
