Gasperini: Malen the ideal striker for Roma

Gian Piero Gasperini hailed Donyell Malen as the ideal striker for his Roma team as the forward continued his superb start in Serie A.

Malen scored twice as Roma drew 2-2 with Napoli on Sunday.

The Dutchman, who joined Roma from Aston Villa in January, has already scored five league goals for his new team.

Malen is averaging a goal every 78 minutes, while he is the first player to score 5+ goals in his first five Serie A games for Roma since Gabriel Batistuta in 2000.

"I have always been convinced Malen has the ideal characteristics for my style of football, as he is a complete striker, he can get shots away quickly, is fast, can combine with his team-mates," Gasperini told DAZN.

"This is a side that needs a striker like him, who is scoring frequently also because we put him in a position to be consistently dangerous.

"He's only been with us for five games, so we can keep improving, I feel, especially if we get [Paulo] Dybala, [Matias] Soule or [Stephan] El Shaarawy back to full fitness, we can be more competitive."

Rome sit fourth in Serie A, 14 points off leaders Inter, and Gasperini went as far as to say if they had signed Malen earlier, his team would be much closer to the top.

"We've had a positive attitude throughout the season, which is why we are fourth in the table," he added.

"I am not afraid to say that if we'd had Malen in the first half of the season, we'd have a few more points right now, but the overall approach has always been the same."