Nicolo Tresoldi is not ready to choose. Not yet.
Italian outlets had rushed to announce that the Club Brugge striker had pledged his future to the Azzurri. The story fit neatly: born in Cagliari, thriving abroad, Italy in rebuild mode and searching for goals. But when Tresoldi sat down with new Italy coach Roberto Mancini and technical director Claudio Ranieri at the FIGC headquarters, the script changed.
He asked for time. He asked not to be called up for the upcoming Nations League fixtures.
For now, the 22-year-old wants to finish what he started with Germany’s Under-21s. That decision has forced the FIGC to pause his requested association switch with FIFA, according to Gazzetta dello Sport and La Repubblica. The paperwork is ready. The signature is not.
A tug-of-war over Europe’s in-form poacher
Tresoldi’s hesitation comes at a moment when his stock is rising fast.
At Club Brugge he has started the season in full stride: five goals in seven matches, including a sharp finish in a 3-2 Champions League defeat to Aston Villa on Tuesday. Those numbers have fuelled transfer rumours and stirred interest from multiple national associations, each sensing an opportunity.
The noise around his future peaked at the end of August. Gazzetta reported that Tresoldi had chosen Italy. In Germany, Bild countered that he remained undecided. The truth, as this week confirms, sits closer to the latter.
His story explains why the battle is so intense. Born in Cagliari to an Italian father and Argentinian mother, Tresoldi spent his early years in Italy before moving to Germany at 13. He came through the academy at Hannover 96, then in 2025 made the leap to Bruges in a €7.5 million move.
On paper, he belongs to three footballing cultures. On the pitch, one federation has had him in their system for years.
Since Under-19 level, Tresoldi has worn the Germany shirt, climbing through the DFB youth ranks. For the Under-21s he has 12 goals in 24 appearances – a return that underlines why neither country wants to let go.
Nagelsmann’s near-miss, Klopp’s looming call
His first season in Brugge turned heads well beyond Belgium. The right-footer’s movement in the box, that quick, predatory instinct, pushed him into the conversation for Julian Nagelsmann’s World Cup squad.
Nagelsmann later admitted Tresoldi came close. “He was really very close for a long time,” the former Germany coach said, praising a striker “who has that special instinct in the penalty area.” In the end, the call never came. The message, though, was clear: his “time will come.”
That time might be approaching under a new regime.
Nagelsmann stepped down after Germany’s disastrous World Cup campaign in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Jürgen Klopp has taken over and will announce his first squad on 17 September. He has yet to speak publicly about Tresoldi, but the timing of the striker’s request to delay an Italy switch will not go unnoticed in Frankfurt.
If Klopp wants to make a statement about renewal, about trusting youth already embedded in the DFB pathway, Tresoldi is an obvious candidate.
Italy’s rebuild meets a striker’s dilemma
On the other side, Italy are also trying to reinvent themselves after missing yet another World Cup. Mancini has returned to the bench with a mandate to modernise and to find goals in a team that has often lacked a ruthless No 9.
The Nations League offers an immediate testing ground. Italy face Belgium on 25 September, France on 2 October, and Turkey twice on 28 September and 5 October. These are not friendlies; they are measuring sticks for a new cycle.
Mancini and Ranieri thought they had secured a key piece of that future. Instead, they leave their meeting with Tresoldi with patience rather than a commitment.
For now, the striker will keep scoring for Brugge and leading Germany’s Under-21 line, all while two major football nations wait by the phone.
At some point, Nicolo Tresoldi will have to choose which anthem to stand under. The real question is whether that decision comes on his terms – or is forced by the first coach bold enough to call his name.
