Gasperini: Malen can threaten Higuain's record, defends Dybala debate with Messi comparison
Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini spoke to the press ahead of a Serie A match, praising summer signing Donyell Malen's goalscoring form and suggesting the Dutch forward has the quality to threaten Gonzalo Higuain's all-time Serie A single-season record of 36 goals. Gasperini also weighed in on the debate around Paulo Dybala's fitness, arguing that criticism of players managing their game time is inconsistent given how rarely top stars like Lionel Messi are questioned for missing fixtures. The comments frame the upcoming match in the context of Atalanta's attacking ambitions and Roma's reliance on Dybala.
Read the full story at football-italia.netGasperini's remarks serve a dual purpose: he is hyping Malen's impact at Atalanta while subtly questioning the noise around Dybala's availability for Roma, a club chasing European places. The Higuain reference is a bold statement of intent — putting Malen in the conversation of a record that has stood since 2015-16. For Roma, any Dybala absence is significant given his creative burden, and Gasperini's pointed Messi comparison reframes the discussion around workload management for elite forwards rather than fitness concerns.
Context added by Socc360, not by football-italia.net.
Data source: football-italia.net (via Socc360). Last updated .
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