Moise Kean: ‘Many expect a lot from me? I'm calm, I only think about working’

Moise Kean is a player a lot of us have wanted to see get a chance on the senior level for the better part of the last 12 months. His rise up the Juventus youth ranks is pretty remarkable, and his subsequent setting of records both in Italy and Europe is proof of what he’s been able to achieve at such a tender age for a professional footballer.

While some thought Kean’s first-full season in Serie A would come as a reserve with Juventus, a deadline day loan deal sent the 17-year-old striker to the city of Verona to spend the 2017-18 campaign with Hellas Verona. Time has flown by since then — yes, even with an international break in between — and Kean is coming up on being a Hellas player for close to a month.

And for the first time since joining the I Gialloblu, Kean took to the mic and spoke to the Italian media. Here, in one fell swoop, is what the young man had to say:

“I grew with a winning mentality Juve taught me. I hope I can pass it on to my teammates. I’m 17, and I’ve got a lot of things to improve and talks about me are a part of the game. I train every day to win a spot in the team.

“The squad has welcomed me and I’ve got great relationships with everyone. Pecchia has asked me to score goals and help the team. Pazzini is a great striker like Higuain is. I can only learn from him.

“I like the way Balotelli plays, but he should look at the way he handles things off the pitch. Raiola has told me I should come to Verona and make great things here.

“The Gialloblu fans are great. Many expect a lot from me? I’m calm, I only think about working. The results will then come. Losing to Fiorentina? We’re a good team and we can do well and will do better.”

(Source: gianlucadimarzio.com)

Obviously a lot of people will point to the quote about Mario Balotelli because Kean has been compared to the former Inter and Milan striker in the past. That’s fair, and with what Kean had to say you had to nod your head because it’s not like he’s wrong with how Balotelli should have handled things over his turbulent past while playing in Italy and England.

A lot of what he said is something you’d expect from somebody making their first appearance in front of a microphone. But still, this is a 17-year-old kid going out on loan for the first time saying this stuff, so it’s good to see and read as well. He has to know by now that he’s being tipped for big things, and just to see him have even the slightest bit of a level head about stuff is pretty refreshing.

Again, he’s 17 years old. SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD, FOLKS.

Hellas has started the season losing two of its first three games, standing on just one point thanks to a draw against fellow Juventus loanee Rolando Mandragora and Crotone on Aug. 27.