Fiorentina forward Moise Kean aims to top both scoring and music charts as he releases first album

Fiorentina forward Moise Kean is aiming to top both the scoring charts and the music charts.

Kean is having the best season of his career in Italy but has still had time to make his first album — called “Chosen” — which will be released on Monday.

“Some say I think too much about music, but if God gives you the chance to have a talent, why not show it?” Kean said. “Making music relaxes me. After I finish training, I recover by writing in my studio.

“Many people still don’t understand what music gives you. Music has always followed me in my soccer career.”

The 24-year-old Kean, who even named his son Marley in honor of Bob Marley, doesn't seem to have any problems with balancing his two main passions of music and soccer.

Many were sceptical when Fiorentina signed Kean from Juventus in July for a reported 13 million euros ($13.7 million). After all, he didn't score a single goal last season.

But that figure is looking more and more like a bargain as Kean has already scored 13 goals so far for Fiorentina. Nine of those have come in Serie A, putting him third in the scoring charts — three behind Atalanta forward Mateo Retegui and one below Inter Milan’s Marcus Thuram.

His goals have played a huge part in Fiorentina’s impressive start to the season, with the team sitting level on points with third-placed Inter, three points behind league leader Napoli despite having played a game less — as its match against the Nerazzurri was suspended after midfielder Edoardo Bove collapsed.

Fiorentina has won eight straight league matches and another win on Sunday, at Bologna, would see it break the club record set in 1960.

In contrast to the more defensively minded tactics of former Juventus coach Massimilano Allegri, Kean is flourishing under Raffaele Palladino, the 40-year-old coach who moved to Fiorentina from Monza in June.

“I get on well with the coach,” Kean said. “He is young, he was a forward, he has clear ideas of what he can ask of me and what I can give him. He has a lot of ambition and loves challenges. And moreover, we’re a young team and full of talent, we’ll do well.”

Despite his relatively young age, Kean has already experienced plenty of ups and downs in his career since coming onto the scene as a teenager in 2016.

Kean was the first player born in this millennium to score in one of Europe’s top five leagues, play in the Champions League, and play in Serie A. He made his debut for Juventus at the age of 16.

Kean was still a teenager when he moved abroad, for a disappointing spell at Everton in the Premier League and a more fruitful one at Paris Saint-Germain, before returning to Juventus in 2021.

However, in his three years back at Juventus, Kean totaled just 22 goals and three assists in 123 appearances.

“I’ve had a lot of awful periods. Also great ones, but the majority were awful ones,” Kean said. “The last was linked to an injury which affected almost all of last season and stopped me from giving 100% in matches. It was a dark period.

“I believe a lot in God. I knew that the dark period I was living would serve as a lesson for me. I was put to the test by God and I had to accept it, even if at the time it really hurt. I came out of it thanks to my faith. … Now I’m in Florence, I’m good, everyone loves me and I love everyone.”

Kean’s return to form also earned him a recall to the Italy team and in September, against Israel, he scored his first goal for the national team in three years.

In total, he has five goals in 19 appearances for the Azzurri.

“The center forward is always an important position to bring home the result,” Italy coach Luciano Spalletti said. “Kean is very strong inside the box. He too has made steps forward, shown that he has notably maturated and we have been able to appreciate it.”

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Fiorentina's Riccardo Sottil, right, celebrates with teammate Moise Kean after scoring his side's opening goal during the Europa Conference League opening phase soccer match between Fiorentina and LASK at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Thursday Dec. 12, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries agreed on Friday a draft law aimed at preventing and countering migrant smuggling, which critics say could be used to target people or charity groups that try to help migrants in trouble.

The aim of the new law is to broaden the definition of what migrant smuggling involves and to increase prison sentences and fines. The agreement between the 27 EU member countries forms their position for final negotiations on the law with the European Parliament.

“If we want to be serious about protecting our borders, we need to step up the fight against migrant smuggling,” said Hungarian Justice Minister Bence Tuzson, whose country holds the EU presidency. “Criminalizing this offence in a uniform manner across the EU would play a key role in this area.”

About 380,000 unauthorized crossings were detected at the EU’s external borders last year. The police agency Europol estimates that more than 90% of those migrants who reach Europe’s shores use the services of smugglers.

The law would oblige all countries to ensure that it would be a crime for anyone to intentionally help a migrant enter, cross or stay in the EU in exchange for “financial or material benefit.” Convicted smugglers should be jailed for up to three years, or over 10 years if someone dies.

It sets fines for organizations or their representatives implicated in smuggling of up to 40 million euros ($42 million).

The draft contains a “humanitarian clause” which would “specify that certain assistance to irregular migrants, notably assistance to close family members or support to provide basic human needs, may not qualify as the criminal offence of migrant smuggling.”

However, member countries would not be legally bound to apply it.

The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), which represents 160 organizations focused on migrants’ rights, is concerned that the non-binding nature of the clause could mean more legal action against migrants and people who help them.

Its senior advocacy officer, Marta Gionco, said that the draft law “goes in the direction of more criminalization, with more people expected to face trials, fines and prison sentences simply for helping other people.” Some migrants are charged as smugglers for steering the boats they're picked up on.

PICUM says that at least 117 people faced legal proceedings for helping migrants last year and at least another 102 people in 2022. Some were charged for rescuing or helping migrants in distress at sea, others for providing shelter, food, water or clothing.

Italy has waged a legal campaign against NGOs that it accuses of attracting people to its shores by using ships to scour the Mediterranean in search of migrant boats in trouble. Italian authorities have seized and impounded charity boats dozens of times in recent years.

The reasons for holding them, often for weeks and sometimes for months, range from “aiding and abetting illegal migration” to seemingly more minor charges like maritime security “technical irregularities” or the “illegal management of waste.”

One ship was held for not ignoring migrant mayday calls while it was taking other migrants it had rescued to a safe harbor; another for “carrying too many passengers” after a rescue. An NGO spotter plane was grounded for spending too many hours at sea.

FILE - Migrants from Eritrea, Libya and Sudan crowd the hold of a wooden boat before being assisted by aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, in the Mediterranean sea, about 30 miles north of Libya, Saturday, June 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra, File)

A woman, one of some 258 people, including Syrians, Egyptians, Bangladeshi, and South Sudanese, saved from the sea in two different rescue operations on Friday is disembarked in Salerno, southern Italy, from the Doctors Without Borders search and rescue ship Geo Barents Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Paolo Santalucia, File)