There has rarely been a more opinion-splitting striker in recent football history than Moise Kean.

In Italy, he is considered a future superstar of the game, and the man who had his Juventus destiny cruelly ripped from him. At Paris Saint-Germain, he averaged a goal every one and a half games, fitting in seamlessly when surrounded by some of the world’s best players.

And then, there is the perception of him that lingers in England. The tone was set was Graeme Souness began speculating that the Bianconeri allowed Kean to leave for ‚other reasons‘ than his football ability, suggesting the then 19-year-old was a trouble-maker or il-disciplined.

At that point, the teenager hadn’t even kicked a ball for Everton and the critics were already hard at work damaging his reputation. As it turned out, Kean never really settled into life in the Premier League – and that’s understandable.

Footballers are humans, and unlike on video games, there are endless extraneous variables that have to be considered when signing a new player.

In the simple world of FIFA 21, a player doesn’t suffer from homesickness. He doesn’t have to cope with culture shock or a language barrier, and he certainly doesn’t have thousands of haters spewing their pre-determined views before he’s even landed in the country.

BREAKING: Moise Kean is a DONE deal returning to Juventus, according to @romeoagresti

Sky says he’ll be in Torino tonight for his medical & will sign on a 2 year loan with obligation to buy under specific conditions. Total cost of deal should be around €20M pic.twitter.com/SJaIXa7IBJ

— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) August 28, 2021

This was what greeted the raw, talented Italian, and ultimately what proved to be his undoing. Not to mention he was joining an Everton side on the brink of a managerial sacking and heading down a painful path of abject mediocrity.

Now aged 21, Kean has had to face enough criticism that would last an entire career for other footballers. And Souness‘ suggestions that Juve were dropping a problem child were clearly unfounded.

The Scot stated: “If they’ve not got a buyback clause then they’re happy to see him out the door. At 19. It doesn’t make any common sense. It seems as if Juventus are saying ‘we don’t care about how good he’s going to be, go on you can take him’.“

Well, Juve clearly care. They care so much that they’ve seen his enormous talent and potential go to waste on Merseyside and are willing to bet on themselves to help him fulfil his early promise.

This was a boy who became the first Italian star born in 2000 to: make his Serie A debut, score in Serie A, make his Champions League debut, score for Italy’s Under-21 side, and score for Italy’s senior side.

He was – and is – a star in the making.

The Old Lady would probably admit that allowing him to leave was a mistake in the first place. They did cash in on the forward, but mainly because they had forked out €100m on Cristiano Ronaldo the summer before, and his €31m-a-year salary meant that keeping a youngster worth €20m who plays the same role didn’t make good business sense.

Ronaldo is now Juve history, and they are ready to make Kean their present and future once more. The two-year loan with a potential option to buy will prove a masterstroke from the Bianconeri, who are in desperate need of some attacking firepower, if Saturday’s shock 1-0 defeat to Empoli is anything to go by.

Kean managed an average better than a goal a game during his brief cameos in Turin, scoring eight times for the Italian giants. His predatory instinct and eye for goal were what impressed onlookers the most – and that’s something that you don’t simply lose overnight.

His 17 goals for PSG last season were not enough to convince them to make his deal permanent, but given the business they’ve pulled off this summer, it’s not hard to see why. Right now, there is a gap in this Juve side, and Kean has been handed the chance that was snatched from him two years ago to prove he’s the man to fill that void.

He can do it, too.