Italy has some of the most recognisable strikers in Europe, but the likes of Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti have struggled to perform for their national team.
A lack of goals is one reason the Azzurri have missed out on automatic qualification for the World Cup in Qatar next year.
They will now have to go through the playoffs and could miss out on the competition again, just like in Russia 2018.
It would be a remarkable underachievement for the Euro 2020 winners not to be at the next World Cup, but if their strikers can score, they should win against any playoff opponents.
One of the most prolific strikers in the history of Italian football, Alessandro Altobelli discussed the poor form of the Azzurri frontmen recently and tipped Juventus man, Moise Kean, to solve the problem.
He told TuttoSport: “Our coach did everything to solve the goal problem. He rotated all the elements available, he played with the false nueve, he raised the external players, he created a game with the insertions of the midfielders, in short, he tried everything.
Scamacca is not ready yet, Raspadori is not a center forward, better as a winger, perhaps only Kean, if he still grows a little bit, he may be the right man. All of these, however, have no continuity.
And therefore Mancini’s task, in these months that are missing from the play-offs, will be to identify a striker capable of responding to the team’s needs. And above all that he scores a few goals. Lucca? He is still a boy, be careful not to burn him before you even see him permanently in A”
Juve FC Says
Kean has just returned to Juventus, two seasons after he left for Everton in England.
The striker is yet to hit the ground running in Turin, but he has the potential to be a key man for his club and country.
He will hope he can start scoring goals regularly for Juve soon so that Roberto Mancini would consider him good enough to start games for the Azzurri.