Raúl Jiménez replacement has Italian heritage and is willing to play for Mexico National Team

Now that Mexico National Team knows what they need to prepare for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where they will face Poland, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia, one of the most difficult things for El Tri will be finding a striker that is on a streak.

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Gerardo “Tata” Martino has been trying to solve this problem by calling a naturalized player like Rogelio Funes Mori as soon as he was eligible to wear the Mexican national team colors, but he hasn’t been of much help for El Tri, as he’s scored only five goals, and the last one was in October.

Raúl Jiménez, who is the main striker for the Aztec squad, hasn’t been the same since he returned to the pitches -he was out of activity for nine months after suffering a season-ending head injury- as he’s only scored three goals for El Tri in the CONCACAF Qualifiers, all of them from the penalty mark.

The other two strikers that Martino has considered haven’t contributed either, as Santiago Giménez hasn’t played a single minute on an official game and Henry Martín’s performances have diminished so much that he even lost his starting role in Club América.

He has Italian heritage and wants to play for El Tri

It’s clear that Gerardo Martino won’t find the striker he wants in Liga MX, unless it is to call another naturalized citizenship like Julio Furch, an option that isn’t discarded just yet as the Atlas forward is one of Liga MX most consistent scorers.

but another option that Martino has is to look for a striker in South America, as there’s several young Mexican players with established careers in countries like Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, like Diego Abreu, who has worn El Tri colors in the past.

Abreu, 18, can play for three different national teams, as he was born in Mexico from a Uruguayan father and an Italian mother, but since the U-15 squad he’s played for the Mexican national team. Now, with over 100 goals in the Uruguayan academy categories, he’s called to be the successor of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suárez.

Will Martino consider him?

Abreu has said that he wants to play for Mexico, although he will incline for the team that gives him more minutes on the pitch, something that El Tri hasn’t done as they haven’t contacted him since October, when El Tri U-20 played a series of games in Spain.

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