Polish predator Krzysztof Piatek is Europe's leading marksman

Krzysztof Piatek's goalscoring record this season

Outside of Poland even the keenest of European football observers had barely heard of Krzysztof Piatek when Genoa paid €4.5m for his services following his 21 goals for Cracovia in the Ekstraklasa.

Now the 23-year-old Serie A scoring sensation is the leading hitman in Europe’s elite leagues after an astonishing start.

Piatek, pronounced Pion-tek, scored two minutes into his Genoa debut and has since notched in seven straight league games, breaking the deadlock six times, to become the most successful Serie A newbie in modern history.

Inevitably dubbed the new Robert Lewandowski, Piatek is strong in the air – he scored a hat-trick of headers against Lecce – and also struck in his first competitive appearance for his national side against Portugal.

“We know that someone will take him away because he’s a superstar and they’ll multiply his salary by ten,” said Genoa president Enrico Preziosi amid interest from Europe’s giants, including Saturday's opponents Juventus.

Piatek is running hot with his expected-goals figure around 3.5 compared to his nine-goal tally but the Old Lady need to watch out – there is a new kid in town.

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