Real Madrid chose Franco Mastantuono over Nico Paz last summer, and the decision still hangs over both players. The Spanish club kept the 19-year-old Argentine, signed from River Plate, while sending Paz to Como to develop under Cesc Fàbregas. A year later, Como paid 60 million euros to make Paz permanent, with Madrid retaining an option to re-sign him for a further 20 million, while Mastantuono was sent on a dry loan to Fiorentina after starting only four league matches from November onward, Ultimo Uomo reported. After 10 Serie A matches in the 2026/27 season, Mastantuono has recorded the most dribbles in Italy and leads Fiorentina in touches inside the penalty area.

The contrast with his compatriot is unavoidable. Two weeks before this reporting, Como beat Fiorentina 3-1 away, with Paz scoring and assisting, while Mastantuono came closest to an assist with a free kick from near the left touchline whose resulting goal was disallowed for a marginal offside; a well-struck corner of his also indirectly produced Fiorentina’s only goal, Ultimo Uomo reported. Paz has been starring on the international stage, including a standout Champions League performance against Manchester United, while Mastantuono has been learning European football in a Fiorentina side that has already endured a deep crisis, the dismissal of Fabio Grosso and the return of Paolo Vanoli, the coach who saved the team last season.

The Madrid Year That Cost Him Minutes

Ultimo Uomo’s central argument is that the comparison between the two Argentines should not be read as a verdict on their levels, but as a reflection of context: Paz plays inside a virtuous system at Como where almost everything works, while Mastantuono has been asked to play matches at the edge of desperation as early as October. The broader point, the outlet wrote, is that Mastantuono should have come to Serie A sooner — at Madrid, he simply lost a year. Like Paz, who already has two Serie A seasons behind him and keeps adding to his game, Mastantuono needs minutes to grow.

That need for volume is exactly what Fiorentina is giving him. After 10 matches, he is among the Viola’s highest-minute players, and the data shows a player who is always present rather than one who turns it on selectively. According to Hudl StatsBomb figures cited by Ultimo Uomo, Mastantuono leads Serie A in dribbles completed (19) and attempts (4.3 per 90 minutes), level with Soulé of Roma — though not the most successful dribbler by percentage, succeeding on fewer than half of his attempts.

Shots, Expected Goals and a Right Foot Still to Unlock

His attacking output is built on volume. Mastantuono is Fiorentina’s most prolific shooter, and in the whole league only Nico Paz has taken more shots. He has generated 3.2 expected goals, the sixth-highest total in Serie A, and has converted it into four goals; Paz has three goals from 2.9 xG. Excluding centre-forwards, only Kvernadze and Ghedjemis shoot as high a share of their touches as Mastantuono’s 5 percent, Ultimo Uomo reported. He is also fifth in the league for combined passes received and made in the final 20 meters, eighth for key passes, and Fiorentina’s leading creator of expected assists after Ndour (1.72) — though he still has zero assists to his name.

The missing piece is refinement in the final action. Ultimo Uomo noted that against both Como and Sassuolo, Mastantuono beat his marker on the right and then sent a low, whipped cross-shot toward the far post that a teammate could not reach. The question the outlet poses: when will he start scoring by cutting back onto his right, or lifting the ball to the near post, or playing precise cut-backs? In his DAZN “My Skills” interview with Hernanes, reported by Tuttosport and Calciomercato, Mastantuono said Madrid taught him to dribble along the line without always cutting inside onto his left, to become more unpredictable and to shoot with his right near goal. Asked whether he prefers scoring or assisting, he said scoring is the best feeling in football.

Defensive Work That Few Attackers Match

The numbers also show a player who does not hide without the ball. Per 90 minutes, Mastantuono is second in Serie A only to Noslin in pressures and regains, and he leads Fiorentina in interceptions, ranks second on the team for tackles plus interceptions behind Fagioli, and third in defensive recoveries league-wide after De Gea and Ndour, level with Dragusin, according to the Hudl StatsBomb data cited by Ultimo Uomo. Watching a Fiorentina match, the outlet wrote, he is the most present player, the most sought-after by teammates, the one who makes himself most available — and the one who most often tries a decisive play, rarely holding possession without pushing at least a few meters upfield or driving at a defender with the ball glued to his left foot.

Ultimo Uomo describes a player whose specialness comes less from any single exceptional trait than from persistence: he lacks the explosive athleticism of naturally gifted talents and will have to work on it, but he uses his quickness to get between ball and opponent after knocking it forward, and he handles tight spaces well, without the acrobat’s balance of players like Cherki or Messi. Against Sassuolo, he took the ball in his own half, passed between Bakola and Candé, and drove 60 meters before crossing from the left with his left foot, only denied by a strong save from Turati. Minutes after Laurienté equalized at 2-2, Vanoli moved Mastantuono to the center behind the striker, and within a minute he struck a shot from the edge of the area that Pedro Gonçalves converted — one of Fiorentina’s most important goals of the season so far.

Mastantuono Highlights Youth Achievement

The 19-year-old, born in August 2007, already carries a record that puts him in Lionel Messi’s company. In the DAZN MySkills interview with Hernanes, covered by Tuttosport and Calciomercato, Mastantuono recalled becoming the youngest player to score a hat-trick in one of Europe’s top five leagues, surpassing Messi as the youngest Argentine to do so, and described sharing that record with Messi as the maximum that can happen to a player. He also said he had spoken with Gabriel Batistuta, who told him how highly he thinks of Fiorentina, and that among Real Madrid players, Jude Bellingham is his favorite. On his own standing among the world’s best young players, he was more measured, saying he does not like talking about himself and that competing with high-level colleagues is always a good thing.

That humility sits alongside a visible self-belief on the pitch. Ultimo Uomo’s reading of his game is that Mastantuono believes enormously in himself, a confidence that becomes a form of outsized generosity: even when he is tackled after beating a defender or drags the ball over the byline, his intention is always clear, and there is no moment when he does not try to make the most of what he has been given. The outlet compares him, without invoking established stars like Lautaro Martínez or Scott McTominay, to slightly older peers such as Paz, who is three years his senior, or Soulé, who has three full seasons behind him.

Fiorentina vs Juventus on November 8

Fiorentina host Juventus at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday, November 8, 2026, with kickoff at 8:45 p.m. local time (7:45 p.m. UTC), in Serie A’s 11th round, according to Calciomercato and Tuttosport. The match will be broadcast exclusively on DAZN, with Pierluigi Pardo and Massimo Ambrosini on commentary. For Mastantuono, another demanding performance in Florence would extend the pattern the first 10 games have established: at 19, he already tops Serie A in dribbles and his team in penalty-area touches. For now, as Ultimo Uomo concluded, he is neither small nor great, but moving forward with stubbornness and the ball stuck to his left foot.

Questions Readers Are Asking

What record does Mastantuono share with Lionel Messi? He became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in one of Europe’s top five leagues, the youngest Argentine to do so, surpassing Messi in that specific mark, as he recounted in the DAZN MySkills interview reported by Tuttosport and Calciomercato.

Como paid 60 million to keep Nico Paz. Como paid 60 million euros to sign Paz permanently at the end of the season, with Real Madrid retaining the option to buy him back for an additional 20 million, Ultimo Uomo reported.

How has Mastantuono performed for Fiorentina so far? After 10 Serie A matches he has four goals from 3.2 xG, leads the league in dribbles, and is among the most involved players in the final third and in defensive actions, per Hudl StatsBomb data cited by Ultimo Uomo.