Moise Kean has been one of this 2024/2025 season’s most remarkable goalscorers in Serie A with 17 goals and three assists in 30 played matches so far.
Only Mateo Retegui has reached better goalscoring numbers in Serie A this season.
Fiorentina had a powerful season this year, competing seriously in the UEFA Europa Conference League and in Serie A for the top spots thanks to their summer reinforcements and the excellent work of the coaching staff led by Raffaele Palladino.
Kean also met the standards set by everyone at the club and has shown that he can lead the team to further positive results during the upcoming seasons.
Should he maintain the same level and continue improving his performances by focusing primarily on his weaknesses and mental maturity, Kean is expected to become even more successful next season with ACF Fiorentina or elsewhere if he receives interesting offers.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will focus on Kean’s performance this season to identify how he is progressing and what needs improvement.
Therefore, the analysis will cover Kean’s goalscoring and playmaking traits, focusing on his importance and roles within La Viola‘s tactics.
Moise Kean Role At Fiorentina & Possible Improvements
Moise Kean style of play is that of a classic striker with outstanding physical strength and abilities, which help him win duels inside the box and in the final third in general.
He wins 22.72 duels per game with an average of 33.3% duels won per match.
This average can surely be improved if Kean focuses more on being intelligent in his decision-making and more aware of his surroundings as soon as he receives the ball.
What can help in this as well is scanning the field and especially the surrounding players’ movements before receiving the ball in order to anticipate their actions as much as possible and avoid getting the ball intercepted due to the unawareness of a defender’s presence.
Other than that, we cannot criticise Kean’s ball protection nor his ability to play under pressure.
His roles at Fiorentina include receiving crosses, acting like a stationary striker by protecting the ball and passing it backwards or to the wings and applying high pressure (he has been excellent in this regard this season with many goals scored thanks to his attention and high pressing on opposing defences and goalkeepers).
Kean’s roles also include attacking the space during counterattacks, whether with or without the ball, knowing that he has been crucial in such situations with Fiorentina this season.
He is also always useful during set-pieces since he often succeeds in scoring headers and escaping from marking during corners or free-kicks.
Knowing that he wins 38.6% of aerial duels per game makes him valuable in Fiorentina’s set-piece plans.
Although Palladino does not instruct Kean to retreat a lot as that would penalise the attacking phase, Kean still succeeds in making a few interceptions per game and that counts for him as a team player and not someone who is only interested in the attacking phase and does not react when out of possession.
Kean makes 1.21 interceptions per game, and many of these interceptions create a lot of danger for the opponents.
Kean’s interceptions often occur inside the opponent’s final third when he applies high pressure during the opponent’s build-up from the back.
Moise Kean Crucial Interception Against Atalanta
The following example highlights Kean’s attention when the team is out of possession and his ability to intercept the ball, relying on his exceptional agility and pace.
This interception created a goalscoring action for Kean himself.
He exploited the Atalanta defender’s average control of the ball, intercepted it, and ran towards the goal before finishing with cold blood, remarkable accuracy, and shooting mastery.
Moise Kean Heat Map
Furthermore, this heatmap showcases Kean’s importance inside the opponent’s half, as it shows how dynamic he can be.
He covers the penalty area and the edge of the box while also retreating to advanced midfield and midfield when needed.
We also see him leaning to the wings at times, as that helps him escape from marking, free the space for the players coming from behind, and, more importantly, try penetrating from the wings, relying on his dribbling skills, physical strength, and one-two combinations with teammates.
Also, Kean’s passing is one aspect that he can work on improving, given that excelling in terms of playmaking would make him an even greater striker for Fiorentina and for Italy’s national team.
He actually provides an average of 0.06 assists per match, with three overall assists in Serie A so far this season.
Although providing a number of assists is always a positive thing for strikers, giving only three assists in almost a whole season can be considered as a very average statistic for a player with his good enough passing skills.
Moise Kean Development As A Finisher
Kean has become a powerful finisher this season compared to his previous seasons in Serie A with Juventus and even during his period at PSG and at Everton.
This season marked a significant upgrade and development in Kean’s concentration in front of goal, shooting accuracy, and ability to exploit most of his goalscoring chances.
This also means that Kean has become much more mature as a player and a striker, and if he keeps improving, that will help him a lot throughout the rest of his career.
What he has achieved this season should certainly not become a one-season success, given that failing to keep the same finishing standards and numbers in the coming seasons would mean that Kean is not putting in the necessary efforts and concentration to succeed in the long run.
That said, what he has shown this season promises a lot and confirms that the player has the talent needed to succeed as a striker following his past failures.
Moreover, the positive signs of mental awareness and behavioural maturity we have seen make us believe in this player’s continuous improvement and success in the upcoming seasons.
A suitable working environment would help them continue progressing and putting on solid performances, knowing that Kean found the suitable environment that would help him develop further as a player and be at his best with Fiorentina.
Therefore, if he ever plans on leaving the club, he should study his next move very well, as that would put his performance at risk if he finds himself in more complex circumstances.
With an actual xG reaching 0.53 and an average of 0.54 goals per game, we can say that Kean is having an excellent season as a goalscorer, especially compared to his previous seasons as a striker.
Moise Kean Curved Shots
One of Kean’s recurrent landmark finishes happens when he receives the ball on the left side of the box, fixes his marking defender, and quickly launches a curved shot to the opposite angle.
Kean usually succeeds in scoring this type of goal and has done so many times this season, whether with Fiorentina or with the Azzurri (against Germany), even though defences and goalkeepers are aware of his techniques.
As you can see in this goal action, defenders and goalkeepers fail to predict when Kean will aim for the shot since he always anticipates the opposition and does it very quickly and confusingly, yet with an exceptional shooting technique.
In fact, Kean does not raise his shooting foot much from the ground, which makes his shooting process more unpredictable.
Therefore, the time of shooting is shorter, winning precious deciseconds over the defender and the goalkeeper.
Kean scored some of the team’s most decisive UEFA Europa Conference League goals, and the following one highlights his ability to play with defenders.
He receives the ball with his back towards the goal, quickly turns while resisting the disturbance of the defender marking him, and finds the right balance, decision-making, and body coordination to shoot towards the opposite angle.
Moise Kean Resistance & Finishing
Confusing all of the marking defenders plus the goalkeeper in a quick single action highlights the attacking danger that this striker can represent when being 100% fit and focused.
It also means that Kean is becoming more obsessed with winning offensive duels and scoring goals, as his attitude has significantly changed inside the box compared to the past seasons, when he used to give the impression that he was indifferent in such situations.
Kean also developed his headers this season and started becoming much more dangerous during crosses and set-pieces, as he scored a lot of goals from such situations.
He was outstanding in this regard, even when facing tough teams from a defensive perspective, such as Inter Milan.
Yet, he was still able to escape from marking thanks to his agility and intelligent movements without the ball at the moment of crossing.
Moise Kean Aerial Duels
This picture zooms in on his initial position when the cross was about to be launched from the right wing.
As soon as the ball was crossed, Kean quickly switched the direction of his run and ran behind his direct marker, making room for himself to receive the cross without much disturbance, as he knew that the cross was going to the far post.
One of the most beautiful goals in Serie A this season was definitely Kean’s acrobatic move against Genoa.
It was outstanding not only because it was unexpected but also because it was well-executed and as accurate as needed despite being scored using the exterior part of the foot.
Moise Kean Acrobatic Finishing
This goal is even more special because Kean suggested passing to him instead of crossing the ball to the group of players during this set-piece.
Kean noticed that his direct marker was a bit distracted and that he had a lot of empty space around him and near the goal, so he pointed it out to the set-piece taker using his hand, as shown below.
That’s how he received the assist and prepared himself for that exceptional finish.
We should add that Kean has also been very good at exploiting second balls.
He has become more anticipatory inside the box, which has helped him score more goals this season.
Moise Kean Assist Making
When it comes to playmaking and assist making, Kean still has a lot to learn and develop, as his numbers are not high enough, as explained above.
That said, Kean succeeded in providing some important assists this season, and perhaps the most notable one was his assist against Napoli.
Moise Kean Assist Vs Napoli
This backwards pass comes after Kean retreated and made himself available to receive the ball despite being tightly marked.
Kean’s backward movement and pass paved the way for the goalscorer to shoot without being disturbed and find a suitable shooting trajectory.
Moreover, being unselfish during set-pieces and when there are shooting possibilities shows that Kean is becoming more of a team player, as he passes whenever he has to.
Moise Kean Assist Vs Juventus
The following assist against Juventus highlights this unselfishness and shows how Kean received the ball inside the box, controlled it and prepared himself for shooting despite being marked by two defenders.
At the moment of shooting, he saw his teammate completely unmarked, so he changed his plan at the last moment and assisted his teammate.
Conclusion
Moise Kean is having a great season and has the potential to continue having even more impressive seasons if he keeps working hard to improve his performances as a striker.
Working a little bit more on playmaking and key passing would be fruitful, as Kean does not provide many assists per season.
Besides that, his finishing, shooting, and movements inside the box continuously progress.
