Moise Kean always had an admirer in Raffaele Palladino. “I will not deny that I already wanted Kean when I was at Monza,” revealed the Fiorentina manager, explaining why he pushed for the signing of the forward from Juventus in the summer when nobody else wanted him. Only a few months later, Kean is repaying Palladino’s faith.
While Kean failed to score a single goal in 19 league games for Juve last season, the 24-year-old is currently Serie A’s second-top scorer having netted eight goals in 11 matches. When Fiorentina signed the former-Everton and Paris Saint-Germain striker in the summer, hardly anyone noticed. Now, though, all eyes are on him.
Not much was expected of La Viola coming into the 2024/25 campaign. They lost key players Nico González and Nikola Milenković over the summer while manager Vincenzo Italiano departed to take over at Bologna. At the time, this looked to be a step up, but Fiorentina are currently seven points ahead of Italiano’s side. They might even be title contenders.
Fiorentina started the season slowly under Palladino. Indeed, La Viola went winless in their first four matches as the tactics of their new manager took some time to bed in. Over the last two months, though, Palladino’s team have found their groove with their only defeat in all competitions since mid-September coming against APOEL Nicosia.
At first, Fiorentina played in a back three. Quickly, though, Palladino switched to a four-man defence and achieved better balance across the rest of the team. The introduction of former AC Milan midfielder Yacine Adli was another turning point with the Frenchman thriving as the player who pulls the strings from deep. Game by game, pieces fell into place.
Palladino, however, never needed any time to figure out Kean’s role. The Italian international scored in only his second game for his new club and continued to find the back of the net even as Fiorentina struggled for form. As La Viola’s new frontman, Kean has reached a level not seen from him for a number of years.
“I saw him as a great striker who has it all,” said Palladino, speaking about his long-standing admiration of Kean whose career had meandered before ending up at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. “He just needs to continue like this and stay in good shape physically, the rest is just the fruits of his daily work in training and the help from his team.”
As a modern centre forward, Kean ticks almost every box. He is physically strong and quick across the ground. He is a good dribbler. Technically, the striker also has the ability to play for a team that wants to have possession. This is surely one of the things that attracted Palladino to Kean, and is one of the things Max Allegri failed to utilise during his time at Juventus.
At Juve, Kean was never seen as the main man. He was behind Dušan Vlahović in the pecking order and had to make do with filling in wherever he could find minutes. Allegri played him out wide and as a supporting striker. Even when Kean was deployed as the focal point of the Old Lady’s attack, Allegri’s conservative style never got the best out of him (and others).
Whether it’s a Lucas Beltrán through ball or a David de Gea punt up the pitch into open space, everything at Fiorentina is geared towards Kean. The 24-year-old has scored all sorts of goals this season with Kean’s hat trick against Verona on Sunday a display of everything he is giving La Viola. It was the complete forward’s performance.
No Serie A player has a higher individual Expected Goals (xG) than Kean (8.5) so far this term. This means that while the Fiorentina striker is in the form of his life right now, he is actually underperforming according to the opportunities he had had this season. If anything, Kean could improve further as Serie A’s hottest centre forward. That’s a terrifying thought.
This season’s Scudetto race promises to be a classic. Two points is all that currently divides Napoli at the top of the table and Juventus in sixth. Many believe the title will ultimately come down to Inter and Napoli, but nobody can be discounted this early in the campaign. Fiorentina are right up there, just one point off first place.
For all the legends that have played for La Viola over the decades, none of them delivered the Scudetto. Gabriel Batistuta, Roberto Baggio, Rui Costa and Francesco Toldo all missed out on title glory for a club that hasn’t been Italian champions since 1969. That championship drought might not end this season, but Kean’s goals have made Fiorentina a team worth watching.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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