Everton paid £27m to sign forward from Juventus
Monday 5 August 2019 16:47, UK
As Everton complete the signing of Moise Kean from Juventus, we examine what impact the teenager could have at Goodison Park...
The 19-year-old has joined on a five-year deal for an initial fee of £27m.
But where will he fit into Marco Silva's plans and why were Juventus happy to sanction the sale? Here, we profile the record-breaking youngster…
Born to Ivorian parents in Vercelli, a few miles outside Turin, Kean joined Torino's youth system at the age of seven and spent three years there before switching to Juventus.
Kean developed into an old-fashioned No 9 whose imposing physical profile is his main strength.
His size helped him bulldoze his way through the Juve youth teams, where, despite consistently playing against boys two years older than him, he was prolific.
Those goals impressed Juventus first team boss Max Allegri and in November 2016 Kean became the club's youngest ever debutant at the age of 16 years, eight months and 23 days.
That 10-minute cameo in a 3-0 win over Pescara saw Kean become the first player born in the 2000s to compete in one of Europe's top four leagues and three days later he made his Champions League bow in a 3-1 win over Sevilla.
He spent the 2017/18 season on loan at Verona, scoring four goals in 19 appearances, and returned to Juve a better player. Climbing the pecking order in Turin, he then netted an impressive six goals in six league games between March and April, prompting a call-up from Italy coach Roberto Mancini.
"Last season was his golden year," says Sky in Italy's Juventus correspondent Francesco Cosatti. "He became a bit of a necessity for Allegri when he started playing him last season.
"In the first few months, nobody would have noticed if he was in the matchday squad or not. But from December 2018 onwards, both for Allegri's necessities and because he found good form, consistency and goals."
This is a point in Juventus' window where they have the need to trim their squad - after the signings of Matthijs De Ligt, Merih Demiral, Aaron Ramsey, Adrien Rabiot and Gianluigi Buffon plus the return of loanees such as Gonzalo Higuain, Maurizio Sarri has a 27-strong man team with incredible depth at his disposal.
And with big names up front including Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Higuain, the manager couldn't have promised Kean as much game time as he wanted.
Additionally, Kean's contract would have expired in June 2020 and negotiations for his contract were not progressing the way either party would have wanted to.
"They could have lost him on a free, but this way they are earning a fee between 30 and 40 million euros depending if all the add-ons are met," Cosatti says. "The player grew up in Juve's youth system for many years, so it's a big capital gain for them."
Although he will wear the No 27 jersey at Goodison Park, Kean is a No 9. But, with his mix of pace and power, he can also adapt as a wide attacker in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.
That offers Silva the option to interchange Kean and Richarlison - as long as he can provide more consistency in the box than previous signings Cenk Tosun, Oumar Niasse and Sandro Ramirez have been able to do.
"We're talking about a player that could easily be in the Italy team for Euro 2020," says Cosatti.
A striker who grew up in northern Italy, broke into the first team as a teenager, is a strong and prolific goalscorer represented by Mino Raiola and could potentially be the starting No 9 for the Italy national team? This description fits both Kean and the player that he has named as his idol - former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli.
"He's his favourite player right now, but I recommended him not to follow in his footsteps under every aspect…" revealed Kean's dad Biorou Jean.
However, there have been a couple of controversial episodes involving Kean.
In 2017, Kean was kicked out of the Italy U19s' training camp along with team-mate Riccardo Scamacca because they reportedly pulled too many pranks on their team-mates. While in June, he was omitted from the squad for Italy's decisive Euro U21 game against Belgium along with Nicolo Zaniolo because he was late to a team meeting.
"This is all proof that he has a particular temper," says Cosatti. "A lot of people say he reminds them of the very first Balotelli and his antics, the so-called 'Balotellate', but Kean has not made as many mistakes because under this aspect Juventus were really good at managing him, they are a professional and serious club.
"Allegri has always managed him with a lot of attention, he always wanted him to stay down to earth without getting carried away."
Kean made headlines across Europe in April when he celebrated in front of Cagliari fans who had racially abused him, sparking further abuse.
His team-mate Leonardo Bonucci was then criticised for putting some of the blame for the incident on Kean.
"Bonucci attracted a lot of criticism from the media because following the game, while we were interviewing him, he said that the blame should be split equally between him and those Cagliari fans," says Cosatti.
"That didn't really go down well because a lot of people argued that he should have backed his team-mate at all times. Bonucci then said it was a misunderstanding.
"But this is even further proof of Kean's character."
Another trait Kean shares with Balotelli is he is not afraid of standing up for his ideals. It's also proof that he will not budge when under pressure.
He is a man for the big stage, as he already proved for Italy's biggest club, and he is determined to leave his mark wherever he goes.
