da pinnacle： Declan Rice & Co. are favourites to prevail in Prague on Wednesday, but their Italian opponents boast the tournament's all-time leading scorer

da cassino： Given the acrimonious nature of Dusan Vlahovic's €70 million (£65m/$70m) move to Juventus in January 2022, Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso is never slow to bring up the striker's subsequent struggles in Turin. As Commisso points out time and time again, Vlahovic's replacements, Arthur Cabral and Luka Jovic, have scored more goals combined than the Serbian – and at half the price.

Indeed, Fiorentina's only problem is deciding which player to start up front on a weekly basis. However, Cabral should get the nod for Wednesday night's massive meeting with West Ham in Prague.

Firstly, there's the fact that he's Fiorentina's top scorer this season, with 17 goals (three more than Vlahovic, for what it's worth!). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the player once known as 'King Arthur' in his native Brazil is very much on the verge of conquering the Conference League.

Tearing it up in the knockouts

Now, that might not seem like the most prestigious title to some, but, just like the tournament itself, it's not one that should be sniffed at. West Ham will certainly be treating Cabral with the respect he deserves, given his impressive record in the competition, coupled with their desperation to win what would be a first major European title since the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1965.

Cabral has racked up a record-breaking 12 goals across the first two seasons of the Conference League, first with former club Basel, and now with Fiorentina. Of even greater relevance for the Hammers, though, is that half of those strikes have come in this season's knockout stage, with Cabral netting in every round so far.

AdvertisementGetty Struggling to settle in Serie A

February's clash with Braga has actually proven key to kick-starting Cabral's Fiorentina career. Like many forwards, he took time to settle in Serie A, scoring just twice during his first six months at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. At that stage, coach Vincenzo Italiano was publicly challenging the €15m (£13m/$16m) signing to "show that he is worthy of Fiorentina", but to little avail.

The current campaign began as badly as the previous one had concluded, with Cabral spending most of his time on the bench – and sometimes staying on it for the whole game. By the start of February, he had managed just three league goals.

GettyTurning point in Portugal

However, a cameo appearance away to Braga on February 16 changed everything. When Cabral came on, Fiorentina were already 2-0 up thanks to Jovic, the Serb's double cementing his hold on the starting striker berth.

But Cabral scored twice himself – and in just 15 minutes – to get himself back into Italiano's good books. The goals suddenly started to flow, with Cabral on target in four consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since joining La Viola.

'If there's one thing I know how to do, it's score'

To the 25-year-old, it felt like just reward for never having lost faith in himself. "If there is one thing I know how to do well in life, it is to score," he told Serie A's media channel. "It took me a while to adapt, but now I see the results of my work.

"I've been at Fiorentina for almost a year now and I’ve always said that my goal is to keep improving and I think that's what's happening. Now I'm seeing the results of my work.

"But I think my form coincides with the excellent performance of the team. I'm growing at the same pace. We are doing better and better and we are also scoring plenty of goals. The more we win, the more our team improves in our way of playing."