How is he compared to Jovic? Better? Worse?
Piatek is just a poacher extraordinaire. In terms of playing style/profile, comparisons to Sheva are very fitting. Tall, very physical, quick in the box and absolutely clinical. He is the kind of striker who you can just put up top on his own and he will make something happen against 3-4 defenders. Gennaro frequently has him just sit at the very top, with about 30 yards between him and the midfield line and just let him wreck havoc on his own. Definitely has the potential to take over for Lewandowski. He's bound to be one of the best box players in the planet for the foreseeable future.
All of that said:
A) Jovic is still probably a better fit for us, stylistically. While he isn't completely inept, Piatek isn't necessarily known for his immaculate link-up play, mobility and ability to find spaces between lines. He'd be very uni-dimensional here, much like Paco, looking for balls in behind the defensive line and overall, I don't see enough vision and creativity on the ball naturally for me to say he's a better fit than Jovic. While Jovic isn't quite as clinical as Piatek, Jovic's all-around play fits us better. He knows when to make the run in behind but also when to drop off and find space between the lines while also being good enough on the ball to provide the final pass, probably the biggest thing Piatek lacks in his game at the moment.
B) Milan is just a match made in heaven for Piatek. I've been
desperate to see Milan back in the Champions League and he is probably their best hope of getting back there next season. He just fits better overall at Milan more than he would at Barca. Their balanced system that looks to create chances off of long possessions through crosses into the box while also being open to quick counter attacks draws off of all of his strength's as striker and I think our system would largely draw out and place more emphasis on the weaknesses in his game currently.
Outside of the pivot, playing as a 9 for us is probably the hardest position to adapt to, especially if you aren't raised in La Masia. Our style and tactics demand so much all around quality, both in terms of goals and creativity/chance creation on the ball AND the positional demands, that it is no surprise that so far the only real out-and-out 9s that have really
made it here in the last two decades is Luis & Eto'o, and those are arguably the greatest strikers to ever play the game from each of their respective countries. This is why this is going to be an extremely hard task for us in terms of finding the right replacement and we need to be really patient and heavily scout each target we have before making a decision.