Nicolo Tresoldi's International Dilemma: Italy or Germany?

Nicolo Tresoldi is not ready to choose. Not yet.

Italian outlets had rushed to claim the Club Brugge striker had finally pledged for the Azzurri. The story was neat: born in Cagliari, thriving abroad, now coming “home” to lead a new era. But inside the FIGC headquarters, the conversation went very differently.

In a meeting with new Italy coach Roberto Mancini and technical director Claudio Ranieri, the 22-year-old asked for something that modern football rarely grants: time. According to reports in Gazzetta dello Sport and La Repubblica, Tresoldi requested not to be called up for the upcoming Nations League fixtures and asked that his association switch with FIFA be put on hold.

For now, he wants to finish what he started with Germany’s Under-21s.

A striker in demand

Tresoldi has given himself options the hard way: by scoring goals.

At Club Brugge, he has started the season in full stride. Five goals in seven matches, including a sharp finish in Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat to Aston Villa, have pushed his name into every scouting report and every federation meeting. His performances last season in Belgium had already turned heads; this campaign is confirming he is no one-season curiosity.

The tug of war around his international future intensified at the end of August. Gazzetta reported he had chosen Italy. In Germany, Bild countered that he remained undecided. The truth, as it stands today, lies closer to the latter. Tresoldi is still weighing up two powerful footballing identities.

His story explains why.

Born in Cagliari to an Italian father and an Argentinian mother, he spent his early childhood in Italy before moving to Germany at 13. He grew up in the German system, came through at Hannover 96, and in 2025 made the jump to Brugge for €7.5 million. Since Under-19 level, he has worn the DFB shirt, scoring 12 goals in 24 games for the Under-21s. Those are not the numbers of a player merely passing through a youth setup. They belong to someone invested.

Germany’s nearly man

Germany have already come close to pulling Tresoldi fully into their senior plans.

After a standout first season in Brugge, he emerged as a genuine World Cup candidate under Julian Nagelsmann. The former Germany coach later admitted just how close Tresoldi came to boarding the plane. “He was really very close for a long time,” Nagelsmann said, describing him as a striker “who has that special instinct in the penalty area”.

It still wasn’t enough. Tresoldi stayed home, his time postponed, Nagelsmann insisting it would come.

That opportunity could arrive soon, though the landscape has shifted. Nagelsmann is gone, a casualty of Germany’s disastrous World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Jürgen Klopp has stepped in and will announce his first squad on 17 September. He has not yet gone public on Tresoldi, but he will know the file well: a young, mobile, penalty-box predator, already proven in European competition, and emotionally tied to the DFB pathway.

If Germany move, they will need to move with conviction.

Italy’s rebuild and a waiting game

Across the Alps, Italy are also rebuilding from failure. Having missed another World Cup, the Azzurri have turned back to Mancini, tasked with stitching together a new side and a new identity. A forward like Tresoldi, with his mix of Italian roots and European polish, fits the brief perfectly.

Italy’s Nations League schedule is brutal enough to expose every weakness and highlight every solution: Belgium on 25 September, France on 2 October, Turkey twice on 28 September and 5 October. These are the kind of matches where a new No 9 can announce himself.

But Tresoldi has asked not to be there. The FIGC, respecting his stance, have effectively frozen the paperwork with FIFA. No switch, no call-up, no debut. Not yet.

It leaves Mancini in a delicate position. He knows Italy need fresh blood in attack. He also knows that if he pushes too hard now, he risks losing a player who still feels a strong connection to Germany’s youth setup.

Between two flags

This is not a simple career choice. It is a decision about identity.

Italy can offer the emotional pull of birthplace, language, family roots, and the chance to become the face of a new generation. Germany can offer continuity, a system he knows, coaches who have trusted him since his teens, and a pathway that nearly led to a World Cup place already.

Tresoldi’s form at Brugge ensures neither side can ignore him. Every goal he scores in the Jupiler Pro League or Champions League sharpens the stakes. Every international break he sits out will feel like a small window closing for someone.

For now, he stays in the middle: finishing the cycle with Germany’s Under-21s, keeping Italy at arm’s length without shutting the door, waiting to see which project – and which shirt – truly matches the player he is becoming.

Sooner rather than later, one of these federations will force the issue. The real question is not who calls first, but who he believes will define the prime years of his career.