Fiorentina tracking Coruña’s Andone

Nikola Kalinic to Tianjin for €40 million. Khouma Babacar to somewhere in England to save his career. Mauro Zarate to Bologna or back to Argentina in search of regular minutes. Yeah, given the media’s obsession with removing every single Viola striker from the team, it’s not a shock that there are some forwards supposed to sign on to the Fiorentina project as well.

23-year-old Romanian international Florin Andone has been in sparkling form for Deportivo la Coruña this term, notching 6 goals and 2 assists in 16 league appearances; weirdly enough, all 8 of those goals scored and created have been in his last 6 matches, indicating a certain, er, streakiness. He was absolute dynamite last year in the second division with Cordoba, with 21 goals and 7 assists in 36 matches.

As a player, he’s a useful sort of forward. He’s got decent pace, which suits his desire to run the channels, and he’s quite good in the air, particularly on set pieces. He’s not bad with the ball at his feet, either, possessing a trick or two to get past a defender and get his shot away. His most striking attribute, though, is probably his engine: he closes down like a maniac, helps his midfield back, and then sprints in behind tirelessly for 90 minutes every game.

Coruña bought him for €4 million this past summer and may want to hang onto him for longer than half a season, but he’s got the look of an ascending player and his tendency to move—he’s switched teams every year for the past 5 seasons—shows an ambitious player looking to move up. Although he’s got dual Romanian and Spanish nationality, he’s got 13 caps and a goal for the former. With Corvino and company clearly watching the Romanian market of late, he fits the Viola profile nicely. However, he’s spent his entire career in Spain, and unless one of Kalinic, Babacar, or Zarate leave, it’s hard to see him getting a path to significant playing time for him.