Fiorentina's summer has accelerated sharply around Moise Kean, with Franco Mastantuono arriving on loan from Real Madrid and the club's centenary season now taking shape under Fiorentina head coach Paolo Vanoli — yet the 26-year-old striker remains the one constant in an otherwise shifting squad.
That stability is not incidental. Fiorentina finished 14th in Serie A last season with 42 points from 38 matches, a return of nine wins, fifteen draws and fourteen defeats, scoring 41 and conceding 50. Those numbers describe a side that drew too often and scored too rarely — which makes Kean's eight goals and one assist across 26 appearances, at an average rating of 6.70, a contribution that carries disproportionate weight. He was, in blunt terms, the most reliable source of goals in a team that needed more of them.
The pre-season has closed with a 1-1 draw against Deportivo La Coruña, a result that matters less than the context surrounding it. Mastantuono's arrival — on loan from Real Madrid, with the Spanish club covering half his wages — signals that Fiorentina intend to build something more ambitious than last season's mid-table stasis. The Argentine talent drew a rapturous welcome in Florence, and the number 10 shirt has been retired for the centenary season, a decision that has already provoked a sharp public response from club legend Gianluca Antognoni.
Kean sits at the centre of all of it. The club turned down an approach from Como understood to be worth up to €40 million, a decision that communicated intent more clearly than any press release. Fiorentina are not rebuilding around Kean reluctantly; they are building around him deliberately.
His AI overall rating of 67 out of 100 suggests a player close to his ceiling — not a project, but a proven asset. The question for Vanoli is whether a more creative partner, which Mastantuono could become, unlocks the striker's efficiency in a way last season's supporting cast did not. Eight goals from 26 matches is a reasonable return; it is not a dominant one. A forward of Kean's profile, with a more inventive presence behind him, should be capable of more.
Fiorentina enter the 2025-26 Serie A campaign with a squad that looks meaningfully different from the one that scraped to 14th. Kean is the thread connecting what the club was to what it wants to become.