Juventus confirmed Moise Kean’s return on a permanent deal last week for £25 million, the same fee that he joined Everton for back in 2019.
Once touted as one of the greatest youngsters in world football, the star has dimmed for Kean in recent years, and he now finds himself back where he started four years later.
Kean, 23 endured a difficult time on Merseyside managing just two league goals in 32 appearances, before being loaned out to PSG and Juventus.
His time at PSG helped highlight why the Italian youngster was once so highly rated, scoring 13 goals in Ligue 1 in a star studded attack, alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Toffee Blues podcast host James Pendleton was happy to see the striker move on.
“I think we got away with one there a little bit. He was really poor for us,” he said.
“We seem to have made a couple of million pound profit on him, that’s obviously good.
“It’s been a bit of a mess to be fair, he’s now finally gone.”
Kean’s time at Everton was generally very poor and despite a stellar performance in a 2-2 draw at home to Newcastle back in 2020, failed to impress for the Toffees.
“It was only that performance against Newcastle where he showed a bit about him, he showed a bit of strength, that he liked getting in and around the box.
“He was very good to be fair,” said Pendleton.
Kean was subject to racist abuse in his first stint at Juventus. When the Italian arrived on Merseyside, fans supported the youngster with a banner, something that went unacknowledged by the striker much to the disappointment of fans,
“When he came in. Everton fans put a banner up for him, and I don’t remember him making a comment about it, which I was quite disappointed about,” said the Toffee Blues host.
Kean arrived to a lot of hype back in 2019, after scoring 6 goals in 13 league appearances for Juventus as a teenager the season prior.
“I was delighted, I thought it was a brilliant signing, said Pendleton.
“He’d played very few minutes for Juventus, but every time he’s played he seemed to score.”
Things quickly seemed to unravel for the youngster with performances failing to meet the lofty expectations fans had for the young Italian.
Pendleton said: “I think quite quickly he didn’t really seem that bothered.
“I do remember thinking after the first couple of games that this lad just isn’t ready at all to be playing up front on his own in the Premier League.
“This might’ve been a mistake.
“I knew he wasn’t going to score 17/18 goals for Everton,” said the Everton podcast host.
Luca Dallolio, host of Juventus Fan TV, a TikTok account with over 140,000 followers was upset when Kean initially left back in 2019,
“I really liked Kean, and I really wanted him to stay because I saw him as the future of Juventus, so him going to Everton, it was a little bit of a shock to me,” said Dallolio.
Since returning to Turin, Kean has scored 5 league goals in both of the last two seasons
“The only issue I think is he’s really inconsistent as a player where he’ll give you four really good games, then sort of ghost out the team a little bit,” said the host of Juventus Fan TV.
Whilst far from a popular figure on Merseyside, the opinion isn’t much better in Turin, with Dallolio claiming that the fanbase was split almost down the middle on Kean.
However, In the game prior to Kean’s permanent signing was announced, he was sent off just a minute after being brought on in a 1-0 defeat to Roma in Serie A.
“The red card was kind of the final straw in a way for a lot of fans,” said Dallolio.
“I don’t think he’ll be the main man at Juventus ever.
“If you’d asked me in the 2018/2019 season I was thinking yes, he’d be the next person to carry on from Higuain and whatnot.
“Personally I think he’s more of a rotational player and for a club like Juventus I can’t really see him starting,” said the TikTok star.
Once heralded as the future of Italian football, Kean’s future seems to be as a bit part player for the struggling Italian giants.
Fans both at the Allianz and Goodison, may well be beginning to get tired of the name Moise Kean.
