Krzysztof Piątek set for career rebuild at Fiorentina

Polish striker Krzysztof Piątek is set to sign for Fiorentina this month.

From being the most coveted young striker in 2018, the forward has not found a home or form since. However, a move to Fiorentina and back to his statistically favourite league in Serie A may rekindle his spark.

At 26, Piątek should be entering the prime of his career, but in truth, he is far from it.

Beginning his career in his native Poland, he built his career on results more than reputation. He bagged 15 league goals for his first professional club, Zagłębie Lubin, before moving to their relative Ekstraklasa giants, Cracovia.

Within six months of his 21-goal league season with ‘The Stripes’, he was leading the line for AC Milan in a team gunning for glory, but that was not without the stepping stone and scouting of Genoa in the first half of the 2018/19 season.

Few had heard of the forward, however, his goal-scoring exploits in his home country alerted agent Gabriele Giuffrida to offer him to the Ligurian side.

Within 17 minutes of his Genoa debut in a cup tie against Lecce, the world were most certainly sitting up and taking notice of Piątek.

17 minutes was all it took him to score his first three goals in Genoa’s famous red and blue strip. By half-time, he had made it four, game over. However, the remarkable Piątek run did not stop there.

A few days later, he made his Serie A debut against Empoli, scoring his side’s first goal after just six minutes in a 2-1 win.

For the next few weeks, a regular feature of the weekend news round-up concerned the latest record that “Il Pistolero” had broken.

When he scored against Lazio, he became the first player since Andriy Shevchenko in 1999 to score five goals in his first four Serie A appearances.

When he scored again in Genoa’s next game, a 2-0 win against Chievo, he had already reached the 10-goal mark in all competitions.

Two goals in three minutes in a 2-1 win against Frosinone made it eight goals in six Serie A matches, the best start by a debutant since the 1949-50 season.

In his next match, a 3-1 defeat by Parma, he became the first player since Gabriel Batistuta in 1994–95 to score in each of his first seven Serie A appearances.

You get the drift, he was special, he was coveted, he was wanted and AC Milan, 18-time Italian champions, were his destination. He was unflappable, confident and devastating, and even in his first 18 matches for Milan, he averaged a goal every other game.

Injuries ravaged his next and final campaign in Milan with only four goals in 18 appearances. His catastrophic drop did not match the reach of his high, though, and he was sold to rising Bundesliga stars Hertha Berlin.

It was a chance to rebuild and to find the player within that Piątek had proven he could be.

In truth, his reputation has done nothing but plummet since.

Two-and-a-half campaigns have heralded just 13 goals and the Pole is set to be moved on yet again.

The Fiorentina Predicament

Piątek encounters a huge obstacle as he arrives in Florence, both in stature and reputation.

Dušan Vlahović, despite all the paper talk, is a Fiorentina player at the moment.

Whether Piątek has been brought in to replace him is another question, but if the 21-year-old Serbian stays, he will almost certainly maintain his starting berth over the new arrival.

Piątek will need this move to work out for his career to get back on track. Whether Fiorentina is the right move for him remains to be seen, but his talent is simply undeniable.

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