Vincenzo Italiano wants January signing Arthur Cabral to ‘show he is worthy of Fiorentina’ after a stuttering start to his Serie A career.
The Viola host local rivals Empoli on Sunday at 11.30 UK time (10.30 GMT).
Giacomo Bonaventura and Alvaro Odriozola are out injured, while Krzysztof Piatek has not been training with the rest of the squad this week due to a muscular issue.
“When we played against Empoli last time, we played so well and deserved to take the lead, then threw away the victory with an eight-minute blackout,” said Italiano in his press conference.
“We generally haven’t done great things after the break for international duty, but we’ll see if we have matured. Empoli are clinical when they get the opportunity to attack.”
Piatek is not at 100 per cent, so Arthur Cabral is expected to start upfront, having so far scored one goal in five Serie A appearances since the €14m move from FC Basel.
“Cabral is improving and has to show he is worthy of Fiorentina. He’s young and can continue to improve every day, we’re trying to put him in a condition to give his best.
“The Fiorentina fans deserve to see a team that always goes out trying to win. We know that means taking risks too, but this courage is why we are in the top eight. We still believe we can reach the Coppa Italia Final and qualify for Europe. That would be the icing on the cake of a fine season.”
SQUAD LIST 📄
The Viola players to face Empoli ⚜️
Powered by Tomket tires #ForzaViola 💜 #FiorentinaEmpoli pic.twitter.com/9M7GKHaVU7— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) April 2, 2022
If you know how to use Cabral,he will score more goals for you.He got the scoring instinct.