Fiorentina entered the summer transfer market to complete their squad in order to be ready for the three competitions they will play in this season: Serie A, Coppa Italia, and UEFA Conference League.
The most important signing for the team is their new coach, Stefano Pioli, who had been with La Viola for two seasons, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, overseeing 74 matches.
Pioli arrived at the team after one season with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League without winning any trophies.
He came to replace Raffaele Palladino, who led the team to the semi-final of the UEFA Conference League last season.
The team have bought the contracts of their loaned players from last season, including Robin Gosens, Nicolò Fagioli and Albert Gudmundsson.
They also made signings from other teams, including Mattia Viti on loan from OGC Nice, Tariq Lamptey from Brighton, Simon Sohm from Parma, Edin Džeko from Fenerbahçe, and Jacopo Fazzini from Empoli.
In addition to those, ACF Fiorentina signed another striker as a backup option to Moise Kean and Džeko: Roberto Piccoli, a centre-forward from Cagliari.
In the following Roberto Piccoli scout report and player analysis, we will analyse Roberto Piccoli style of play and technical characteristics, based on his performances with Cagliari.
Who Is Roberto Piccoli?
Roberto Piccoli is an Italian right-footed centre-forward who is 190cm tall and 24 years old.
The player has had an eventful career despite his relatively young age.
He’s played for seven teams in the first team and for Fiorentina as his eighth side.
He was promoted to the first team at Atalanta BC in 2020/2021, and then he went on a short-term loan to Spezia Calcio in the same season.
After returning to Atalanta BC, he continued with the team until January in the 2021/2022 season, then went on a short-term loan to Genoa.
In the following season, 2022/2023, he went again on long-term loan in January to Hellas Verona.
Then, after returning, he went on another loan in January of the 2022/2023 season to Empoli.
Subsequently, he went on loan again to Lecce in the 2023/2024 season, and then in the following season, he went on a loan to Cagliari Calcio.
Finally, he joined Fiorentina after Cagliari bought his contract from Atalanta BC in season 2025/2026.
Roberto Piccoli played for 130 matches in all teams in the first team, scored 56 goals and made six assists in all competitions.
Roberto Piccoli Stats
Roberto Piccoli’s radar chart compares his performance with that of other centre-forwards from Europe’s top-five leagues in 2024/2025, providing him a percentile rank with ’50’ being ‘average’.
Roberto Piccoli Pizza Chart
Starting with the defending section, Piccoli ranked in the 85th percentile among centre-forwards from the top-five leagues for aerial duels per 90, being in the 60th percentile in winning these aerial duels.
He was below average for the other elements in the defending section.
Regarding the attacking section, he ranked in the 72nd percentile among centre forwards for shots per 90, with being in the 52nd percentile for dribbles and opponent penalty area touches per 90.
He was below average in goal contribution and expected goals contribution per 90.
Lastly, with the possession section, he was below average across the board.
Cagliari’s direct approach with their former coach, Davide Nicola, raised the percentage of aerial duels for Roberto Piccoli.
Roberto Piccoli Style Of Play
Roberto Piccoli Link Up & Hold Up Play
The first aspect of Roberto Piccoli style of play I will discuss is his ability to link up or hold up play under pressure, whether by passing the ball quickly, keeping it, or turning around with it to get past his direct defender.
The player dismarks well from the defenders, using sudden movements and good body control to protect the ball.
The following case from his first match with Fiorentina against Torino this season shows one of the reasons for signing him.
He can play as a centre-forward in a one-striker or two-striker attacking system.
In the Torino match, he started alongside Kean in the attacking line.
He was responsible for dropping off to receive the ball while Kean and some of the other players got in behind the defensive lines.
In the image below, Piccoli drops off to receive a diagonal pass from his teammate.
Then, he passes the ball from one touch with his weak foot to Gosens, who penetrates the space behind the defensive line with the help of Kean, who has pulled away from the line.
The ball is going aerially to Gosens, who continues his run.
The ball is with Gosens, and he tries to play it to Kean.
The next case shows us the ability to link up play with midfielders who play behind him.
This case and image are from his last match with Cagliari in Coppa Italia this season.
Piccoli waits for a diagonal pass with a good body shape and orientation.
He plays the ball with one touch to the midfield player when the ball goes to him.
Then, he turns around and moves quickly to the free space in the depth, but his teammate decides to pass the ball to the other penetrating player.
My third case is the ability to guide the ball on the opposite side of the pressing defender so that it passes him.
Firstly, he waits for a direct long ball.
Then, he guides the ball in the air to the right side from the defender, to his opposite pressing side.
After passing the defender, he dribbles the ball forward.
He still dribbles the ball.
After that, he passed the ball to the full-back, then he moved inside the box.
He recognises the free space and moves towards it, waiting for a cross.
Finally, he delivers a superb header and scores a goal.
In the last case from this section, we will examine Roberto Piccoli’s hold-up play, which involves protecting and keeping the ball under pressure.
The next image depicts a tense situation for the ball between Piccoli and the defender in a large open space.
Piccoli tries to protect the ball using his hand to push the defender away.
Although two defenders have pressed him, he succeeded in guiding the ball inside to eliminate the two defenders.
Then, he passed the ball to his teammate, putting him in front of the goal with a goalscoring opportunity.
His teammate received the ball and then scored a goal.
Roberto Piccoli Off-The-Ball Movement
The second aspect I will explain is Piccoli’s off-the-ball movement, especially his movement behind the defensive lines.
Piccoli is not only good at linking up play with movements in front of defenders but also at attacking the space behind defenders.
The first case is from his first match with Fiorentina.
In the image below, Piccoli moves to the space between the two defenders, waiting for the ball carrier’s decision.
Then, when he sees that the defender beside him gets near him and then stops, he decides to attack the space behind the defender from left to right.
He gets a pass from his teammate in that space.
And he shot the ball at the goal, but the goalkeeper saved it.
The second case also shows the ability to cut behind the defenders.
In the following image, Piccoli stands first behind the defender, in his blind area, to either pull him and then attack the space beside him, or to be invisible for the defender.
When the ball carrier faces the depth, it’s a proper moment to start running, as Piccoli did.
Then, he receives a pass from his teammate behind the left centre-back from the opponent, exploiting the space behind him.
Finally, he receives the ball and scores a goal with one touch.
Let’s move on to the third and final case, which demonstrates Piccoli’s ability to change his direction of running to exploit another space.
In the image below, he runs between the two defenders.
Then, he decides to move to the right side of his team, exploiting the narrowing from the two defenders.
The space is very large for him to attack now, so he continues his horizontal run and then runs vertically towards the goal.
After that, he guides the ball forward towards the goal.
And finally, he took a superb shot at the goal, scoring a goal.
Conclusion
In this Roberto Piccoli scouting report, I have highlighted Piccoli’s most prominent strengths, which led Fiorentina to sign him to be ready for the 2025/2026 season.
Roberto Piccoli has good skills at moving in front of defenders, holding or passing the ball quickly and then moving quickly to another space, as well as moving behind defenders due to his excellent awareness of free spaces and defenders’ behaviours.
Therefore, Piccoli could fit Pioli’s ideas if the coach decides to play with two strikers, especially if he plays alongside Kean.
Kean prefers to move into the spaces behind the defensive line, and thus, Piccoli will be able to pull defenders away to free these spaces for his teammate.
Roberto Piccoli can also swap roles with Kean due to his ability to attack spaces behind defenders.
He can also be a good substitute for Kean, rotating with Džeko.
