Krzysztof Piątek Scouting Report At Genoa CFC 2018/2019

Serie A has recently become a league where young talents from all over the world get their European breakthrough.

Given the financial situation of Italian clubs compared to English or German, the Italians are forced to use their extensive scouting networks to unearth the latest gems.

Eastern Europe has been a market where the Italians have traditionally looked for players.

But where it mostly used to be mostly the Balkan countries, leagues like the Czech or the Polish has been more explored lately.

The latest player to emerge from an Eastern European league and hit the ground running is Krzysztof Piatek.

After joining Genoa this summer, hes already scored seven goals in three games.

This tactical analysis will look more closely at the 23-year-old.

Krzysztof Piątek Background

Krzysztof Piatek has had a steady rise from his debut season in the Polish Ekstraklasa in 2015/16.

Piatek then played for Zaglebie Lubin and scored six goals and made three assists in 33 appearances.

After starting the following season with one goal in the opening five games he was signed by Cracovia where he scored an additional eleven to take his season tally to twelve goals in 33 games.

He again contributed three assists.

Last season is when he really took off, scoring 21 goals in 36 matches while adding four assists.

Piatek has, therefore, nearly doubled his goalscoring in each season in Polands top flight.

After a stunning start at Genoa, whom he joined for €4m in the summer, Piatek has scored three goals in two league matches, as well as four in a Coppa Italia, win against Lecce.

That gives Piatek seven goals from his first three matches in the Rossoblu shirt.

While his early form is encouraging, I think its safe to say nobody expects Piatek to double his tally again.

After all, 42 goals in Serie A would be an all-time record.

But given his quality and his strong start you wouldnt put it against him to reach above 20 goals for the season in all competitions.

That would be a great improvement from Genoas strikers in recent seasons.

After his superb start, Piatek has already been linked with a future move to Barcelona.

While those links are premature, Barcas reported interest highlights Piateks quality.

Krzysztof Piątek style of play

Krzysztof Piatek is a centre-forward and he loves to score goals.

Genoa play in a 3-4-1-2 formation, which has so far seen Piatek form a strike partnership with Christian Kouame, while the creative veteran Goran Pandev is the playmaker behind them.

As well see, the split striker formation gives Piatek the chance to make diagonal runs in-behind to great effect.

Defensively, Genoa drops into a 5-2-2-1 shape where Piatek has to defend the left-sided half-space ahead of the two midfielders as seen below.

When the ball is won, Piatek provides a great out-ball for Genoa to break quickly from defence to attack.

Proper goalscorer

Krzysztof Piatek is a natural goalscorer.

The Polish centre-forward is comfortable finishing with both feet and with his head.

His start at Genoa, with seven goals, is tes