An old-school number 9 – that is the best description of Mateo Pellergrino, perhaps the biggest threat for Fiorentina when they face Parma on Sunday.

Pellegrino has inevitably had to spend his career in the shadow of his father, Mauricio – a defensive stalwart who played for Velez, Barcelona, Liverpool and Valencia, before spending time as Rafa Benítez's assistant at Inter.

As fate would have it, it was Cristian Chivu – a player while Pellegrino senior was at Inter – who gave Mateo his big chance at Parma, 15 years later.

Having handed him his first few minutes of Serie A football against Bologna and Udinese, Chivu threw Pellegrino into the fray in the 55th minute against Torino. The result was two goals and a man of the match award in a 2-2 draw which kick-started the Argentine's season.

Standing 192 cm tall, Pellegrino uses his stature athleticism to dominate the area and act as the figurehead for Carlos Cuesta's side. Although he doesn't get actively involved in the team's build-up play, his mere presence is often enough to draw the attention of two opponents, freeing up space for his team-mates' runs. When he has the ball, his task is to defend the ball to give his team time to push up.

However, his natural hunting ground is of course the penalty box, where he enjoys tussling with opposition defenders. He has scored seven goals so far this season, four of which headers – the most in Serie A, level with Lautaro Martinez. Indeed this season only Idrissa Toure has won more aerial duels.

Those numbers appear even more impressive when you consider Parma's scoring difficulties this season (just 20 goals in Serie A).

Pellegrino is the typical striker who can go missing for long spells of a game before turning up with a lethal finish at the crucial moment. However, his battling qualities can also be seen when Parma don't have the ball, and he is one of the strikers with the most balls won in the opponents' third.