Introduction & Career Overview
Moise Kean, born on February 28th, 2000, in Vercelli (Italy) is an Italian striker playing for ACF Fiorentina in Serie A, the Italian top division, and for the Italian national team.
As a kid, Kean went through the academies of Asti and Torino, before moving to Juventus in 2010. In 2016 (aged 16) he was part of the u19 team led by coach Fabio Grosso that lost the Primavera title final versus Roma on penalties.
He made his debut in the first team on the 19th of November 2016, in a 3-0 win over Pescara at home, under coach Massimiliano Allegri. A few days later, he also made his debut in the Champions League, in a 3-1 victory against Sevilla.
For the 2017-2018 season, Juventus loaned him out to Verona, also playing in Serie A. During the loan spell, Kean accumulated over 1200 minutes, scoring 4 goals. His development convinced Juventus to keep him in the squad the following season, however he featured only for 600 minutes, scoring 7 goals between league and cup matches in a very competitive squad. During this season, Kean made his debut in the senior national team, under manager Roberto Mancini.
Kean’s production at an early age caught the eye of Everton, who paid 27.5 million euros to secure the signature of the Italian striker in 2019. However, his move to Everton didn’t pan out as expected: Kean played for over 1000 minutes in all competitions, scoring only 2 goals. The Merseyside team elected to loan him out next season. Finding suitors was not an issue: Kean moved to Paris to play for powerhouse PSG.
Playing once again in a team packed with stars (Mbappé, Icardi, Verratti, Marquinhos among others), he was able to make the most of it: he accumulated 2380 minutes across 41 matches in all competitions, scoring 17 goals. During his time at PSG, he was often employed as a winger by coach Pochettino.
Everton chose to loan him out again the following season, this time sending him back to his home team, Juventus, for 2 years for a fee of 7 million euros. In 2023 Juventus bought him back for 30 million euros. In the span of the following 3 seasons at Juventus, Kean made 102 appearances, playing for over 3400 minutes and scoring 14 goals. After the arrival of Serbian strikerDušan Vlahović from Fiorentina for 83,5 million euros in January 2022, it became clear that Juventus wasn’t ready to trust Kean as a starter.
In the summer of 2024, Kean finally moved to Fiorentina, a team that could finally offer him the chance to start regularly.
With starting responsibility, Kean blossomed into one of the best forwards in Italy. His strength and ball shielding technique allow Fiorentina to deploy a lethal direct style when under high pressure.
Most defenders are unable to cope with him 1 vs 1 for 90 minutes. Kean is showing that he is a skilled target forward, but he also has the intelligence and speed necessary to attack the defensive line for through balls, even though he tends to be caught offside often (1.9 times per match on average).
Stats and Performance Metrics (2024/25 Season)
• Kean has an impressive 0.76 non-penalty xG per match, among the best in Serie A.
• He also excels in other attacking P90 metrics, like shots (4.35), shots on target (1.88) and xGOT (0.89).
• As a finisher, Kean is virtually on par with his expected goals, with a -0.04 xG underperformance P90. This stat would be net positive without the penalty miss in the match against Milan.
• He has a lot of success as a dribbler (2.2 dribbles per game with a 58.10% success rate), using his physical skills and intelligence to find the best areas for ball carries, progressing the ball for 42.09m per game.
Detailed Analysis
Kean ranks in the 96th percentile for goal threat, despite his shortcomings as a finisher. As his stats show, Kean isn’t shy about taking shots.
Since the careers of these two players are intertwined—both having played at Fiorentina and Juventus, where Vlahović was favored over Kean—it’s interesting to compare their performances.
Kean v Vlahovic
We can see that Kean is overperforming Vlahović in most categories this season.
In particular:
• Kean ranks in the 61st percentile for ball retention, while Vlahović ranks in the 45th
• For progressive carries, Kean is in the 80th percentile, Vlahović in the 22nd
• Vlahović scored 6 goals, with an xG of 8.29, while Kean scored 8 from an xG of 8.45. A greater return from a similar Expected Goals is also emphasised by Kean’s superior Goal Efficiency (51st Percentile to a lowly 3rd percentile)
• Kean won 46.9% of his duels, while Vlahović won only 38.5%.
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This article was written by Francesco Trasforini - you can contact Francesco on LinkedIn