Fiorentina forward Roberto Piccoli enters the 2025-26 pre-season in a squad that is tightening rather than opening, with the viola publicly refusing to sell Moise Kean and adding Joao Mario on loan from Juventus as the club reshapes around a core it intends to keep.
That context matters for Piccoli directly. At 25, with three goals and one assist across 31 Serie A appearances last season and an average rating of 6.50, he is a contributor but not yet a cornerstone. Fiorentina's decision to block any Kean exit — even at a reported €40 million — signals that the club's attacking hierarchy is settled at the top. Piccoli's path to more minutes runs through that hierarchy, and the club is not making it easier.
The numbers from his 2025-26 campaign are honest rather than flattering. Three goals from 31 matches is a return that keeps a forward in a squad but does not secure a starting place. His AI overall score of 56 out of 100 suggests a potential ceiling of 68 that is meaningfully higher than the current output — a gap that is either an opportunity or a warning, depending on how the next pre-season unfolds.
Fiorentina's broader season — 14th in the table on 42 points, with nine wins, 15 draws and 14 defeats — was one of managed disappointment. A side that drew more often than it lost rarely builds momentum, and a forward operating in that environment will find clean chances harder to accumulate. Piccoli was not the cause of that inconsistency, but he was not able to rise above it either.
The arrival of Joao Mario from Juventus adds depth in a different position, but it also signals that Paolo Vanoli's Fiorentina is actively investing rather than standing still. In that kind of environment, peripheral forwards tend to be the first to feel the squeeze when the squad is trimmed for competitive registration. Piccoli has the profile of a player who needs a run of starts to build rhythm; whether Paolo Vanoli's system — and the club's evident preference for Kean as the focal point — allows that remains the central question around his pre-season.
He scored in the friendly defeat against QPR, which at least confirms his sharpness in front of goal has not deserted him. But pre-season goals are currency that depreciates quickly once the league begins. The next few weeks will tell Piccoli more about his standing at the club than any transfer headline will.