Fiorentina considering a move for Dabbur

Giovanni Simeone has now gone 6 matches without scoring. Diego Falcinelli hasn’t looked like anything more than a Marcelo Larrondo/Tanque Silva/Nacho/Amauri/Alessandro Matri-level emergency third striker. Cyril Théréau seems to be falling apart. While the rise of Gabriele Gori at the Primavera level is exciting, he probably needs a few years of seasoning. Clearly, Fiorentina needs reinforcements up top.

Enter 25-year-old Munas Dabbur (or Moanes Dabour, if you prefer). The Israeli international has been on a tear in the Austrian Bundesliga, tallying an eye-popping 16 goals and 3 assists in 22 matches. For those who think those numbers are artificially inflated by low-level competition, he’s got 4 goals and an assist in 8 Europe League matches as well, including strikes against big-time clubs like Marseille and Real Sociedad. No surpsise, then, that Pantaleo Corvino dispatched a scout to watch him during a clash against old Viola foe Sturm Graz.

It’s just another step in the process for Dabbur, who first rose to prominence by scoring 9 goals in 24 appearances for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2012, aged just 19 years. A move to Grasshopper in Switzerland was his reward a year later, and he responded with 48 goals in 97 appearances for the Zurich outfit. A move to Salzburg followed in 2016, and after a rough patch settling in, he’s back doing what he does.

As you can see in the video, Dabbur is a versatile striker. While he’s not a burner, he’s got enough pace to threaten over the top, and he’s comfortable working the channels and drifting wide. He’s got good technique on the ball, showing willingness and ability to take his man on, especially in the wide areas. However, he’s clearly a central, rather than a wide, forward: his movement in the box is pretty clever, and he loves a volleyed finish.

His agent reports that they’ve already turned down overtures from Palermo. When asked about the Viola, the agent responded, “In Italy there are a lot of top teams and Fiorentina are one of those,” before adding that there was no move certain and that his client is happy in Salzburg, although a switch to a big European league would be hard to turn down.

Translation: no, there probably hasn’t been any contact between Dabbur’s representatives and Corvino yet, but the door is open. If a move is going to happen, though, the Crow needs to flap his wings, as Sevilla, Lyon, and Benfica are also interested.