New Fiorentina Center-Forward Still an Option for Italy

Lucas Beltran has been called up by Argentina in the last two international breaks, but he has yet to debut with La Seleccion, and therefore, he’s still technically available for Luciano Spalletti, should he agree to switch his allegiance, Tuttomercatoweb informs.

Gianluca Scamacca scored against England, but Italy’s search for a no.9 is never-ending. Roberto Mancini managed to convince Mateo Retegui, who transferred to Serie A a few months afterward. Ciro Immobile is 33 and has had a checkered career with the Azzurri.

Beltran was born in Cordoba to a family of Italian descent and possesses a double passport. The Azzurri aren’t openly courting him, as they did with Carlos Augusto, who ultimately picked Brazil, but his name has come up a few times in Coverciano.

The staff is working on Matias Soulé, who publicly admitted being uncertain about which national team to represent. He too has been enlisted by Argentina in the past but didn’t feature.

The center-forward joined Fiorentina in a €12M move from River Plate last summer, plus very sizeable bonuses. He has split time with M’Bala Nzola in the early going. He has assisted once in 11 appearances but is still scoreless in the season.