Paolo Vanoli said something to Franco Mastantuono after Fiorentina's Coppa Italia win against Pisa — the details of which have filtered through without the exact words — and whatever it was, it landed in the context of a coach trying to shape a 19-year-old Argentine into something more than a scorer of goals for a struggling side. Fiorentina drew 1-1 at home against Napoli on Sunday, Jimenez equalising after Billy Gilmour had given the visitors the lead, and the result left Vanoli's team in 17th place with four points from five Serie A matches.
The scoreline is the problem Mastantuono cannot solve alone. Fiorentina have conceded twelve goals in those five matches, scoring six. A midfielder who carries an AI overall of 74 out of 100, with a potential of 84, is being asked to contribute at one end while the structure behind him leaks at the other.
His Serie A numbers this season are genuinely striking for a player his age: three goals in five matches, an average rating of 7.04. That production places him among Fiorentina's most reliable sources of attacking output, and it comes from a central midfield position in a team that has won only once. Goals in a side that concedes freely are not wasted — they are the difference between four points and fewer — but they do not yet translate into the upward trajectory the club needs.
The Coppa Italia appearance, in which Mastantuono did not score, adds a different data point: a rating of 6.97 in that match, against the 7.04 average he carries in the league. The gap is not alarming, but it suggests the Serie A version of him — sharper, more decisive — is the one that matters most to Vanoli's calculations right now.
Vanoli, for his part, told broadcasters after the Napoli draw that the table is not something to look at, and that Fiorentina are reactive and talented but have something left to learn. He did not specify what. The comment applies to the group, but it fits Mastantuono's situation precisely: the goals are there, the consistency is building, and the next step is doing it inside a team that stops giving goals back.
At 19, with three Serie A goals already banked, Mastantuono is not the problem in Florence. He is, at this point, one of the few clear answers.