£27m Everton misfit Moise Kean turned down a move to Premier League newcomers Nottingham Forest last summer before re-joining Serie A giants Juventus on loan, according to Calciomercato.
The striker’s difficult second spell in Turin certainly seems to add credence to that old cliché. They do say you should ‘never go back’ after all. And with Kean failing to recapture the old magic of his formative days at Juventus, the Italy international’s future now feels more uncertain than ever before.
In 17 games, he’s scored just two goals for a Juve side in a muddle under Max Allegri. As things stand, it seems unlikely in the extreme that the Old Lady will trigger the option-to-buy clause in Kean’s contract, with the 22-year-old’s insistance that he can thrive at a club at the very top level failing to stand up to scrutiny.
Kean, Calciomercato say, turned down Nottingham Forest in the off-season as he awaited an offer from a so-called ‘bigger’ club. The Toffees loanee did find the net during Juventus’ hard-fought 1-0 win at Hellas Verona in midweek but he still has a long old way to go before he can silence those critics relishing the apparent downfall of a player who, not so long ago, looked like the future of Italian football.
Everton’s Juventus loanee Moise Kean turned down Nottingham Forest
“He’s a boy. He emerged at sixteen, he earned a lot of money and that may have confused him. But he is talented and good,” Kean’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, tells Tuttosport.
“At Juventus, everyone agrees that he is a professional. They do not blame him for wrong behaviour. He is a boy who now only asks you to play. Sometimes, we forget that he (was born in) 2000, because he started early. Now, he is becoming an adult.”
Kean, Pimenta points out, is still just 22 years of age. As recently as 2020/21, he was scoring goals for fun during a loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain; finding the net 17 times while being labelled ‘a mix of (Edinson) Cavani and (Mauro) Icardi’.
It remains to be seen, however, if his winner in Verona acts as something of a turning point. Or, perhaps, another false dawn for a player who has seen enough of those already in his short career.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
