Moise Kean: Juventus striker changed his mum's life when he signed with club | OneFootball

For a man who only turned 22 years of age on Monday, Italy striker Moise Kean has been no stranger to controversy throughout his relatively young career.

Still technically an Everton player, Kean re-joined his former club Juventus on a two-year loan deal last summer. The agreement contains an obligation-to-buy, making it highly unlikely that the player will ever return to Goodison Park.

That is a situation that not too many from the blue half of Merseyside will shed any tears over.

Within months of putting pen-to-paper at Everton in August 2019, he was dropped from a matchday squad to play Southampton for ‘disciplinary reasons’. Less than six months later, he was hit with a two-week fine over a lockdown party that breached COVID-19 guidelines.

When he was available for selection, though, Kean’s form was underwhelming to say the least. Four goals in 39 appearances was never going to do much to endear him to the locals.

It was the latest rough patch in a rocky professional career where Kean has struggled to settle for long. However, it wasn’t always that way.

Having learned his trade playing for both Asti and Torino, Kean was considered an exciting young talent when he got his big break with Juve as a youth player in 2010.

Signing a full professional contract in 2016 provided Kean with financial security previously unknown to himself and his family. For all of his reputation as being difficult to deal with, the young talent was quick to look after his mother as soon as he joined one of Italian football’s biggest clubs.

In a 2019 interview with TuttoSport, Isabelle Kean – Moise’s mother – revealed the heartwarming story of how she found out that her son had signed with Juve, effectively changing her life forever in a moment.

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“We had little money. Then one day Moise calls me on my way to work at 5:30 AM and says ‘Mom, I’ve got a surprise’,” she recalled.

“I told him ‘No, don’t tell me? You didn’t sign with Juve.’

“He replied ‘I did and starting today you will quit your job and live with me in Turin’.”

For a parent struggling to make ends meet, this was a wholesome gesture from Moise, who was just 16 at the time.

Isabella went on to explain that Moise is known as ‘Moses’ in her home as she views him as a blessing.

“His birth was a miracle.

“The doctors told me that I could not have other children, I cried and prayed. Giovanni [Moise’s older brother] also asked me for a little brother.

“One night I dreamed of Moses. He came to help me and after four months I was pregnant again.”

Italy’s youngest-ever goalscorer might now have fully realised his potential yet – five goals in 21 games this season is hardly exceptional form – but he still has plenty of time to make an impact on the world stage. No matter how big of a splash he makes on the pitch, however, it will be nothing compared to the manner in which he transformed his family’s life when he joined Juve.