Donyell Malen is scoring goals for Roma at a rate similar to how the locals down espressos

ROME (AP) — Donyell “Bobby” Malen carefully parked a three-wheel Piaggio Ape before sitting down in front of an espresso to declare he was staying at Roma in a social media video that went viral.

Three months later, it’s clear again why Malen is attracting so much attention in the Eternal City.

The Netherlands center forward has scored five goals in Roma’s opening two matches to raise his total to 19 in 20 games since joining the Giallorossi on loan from Aston Villa in January.

Only two players in Italian league history have scored more in their first 20 matches: Gunnar Nordahl (1949) and José Altafini (1958-59) with 20 each. And nobody had scored five in the opening two rounds since Gabriel Batistuta for Fiorentina in 1997.

Three years later, Batistuta transferred to Roma and helped lead the capital club to the Serie A title in 2001.

Now, for the first time in years — decades actually — Roma appears to have put together a squad capable of competing for the title again. With two wins, eight goals scored and none conceded, it tops the table.

Most of Malen’s goals are of the pure finishing style, with only one or two touches before depositing the ball in the net. He needed only one touch for both of his goals in a 4-0 rout at Lecce on Monday, and used a backheel touch to set up the first score of a hat trick in another 4-0 win, over Fiorentina, in Roma’s opener.

“He has this ability to control, turn and accelerate all within moments, which are extraordinary characteristics for a center forward,” Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini said.

At age 27, the 25 million euro ($29 million) fee Roma activated at the end of last season to make Malen’s move permanent seems like a relative bargain.

Gasperini’s teams are typically high scoring and Diego Milito (at Genoa), Duvan Zapata, Gianluca Scamacca and Mateo Retegui (each at Atalanta) have had explosive seasons under the manager.

Malen has been compared to Gonzalo Higuain, who scored bundles of goals for Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus.

“Yes, they do have some similar attributes, though they’re a bit different physically,” Gasperini said. “Malen is not quite as robust. But with their speed of execution in controlling and shooting, and that burst of pace over the first few yards, they’re certainly comparable.”

However, Malen’s form didn’t carry over to this year’s World Cup. He started all three of the Netherlands’ group matches without scoring, then was benched for a shootout loss to Morocco in the round of 32.

As for his nickname “Bobby,” that comes from an Italian tribute song to Bob Marley titled “Bobbe Marley.”

Up next in Serie A, Roma hosts Atalanta — Gasperini’s former club — on Saturday.

Roma is back in the Champions League for the first time since 2018-19. It opens at Fenerbahce next week before hosting Real Madrid and former coach José Mourinho for its home opener in October.

Paulo Dybala assisted on all three of Malen’s goals against Fiorentina. The often-injured Argentina playmaker reduced his salary to sign a contract extension with Roma in July.

Roma was also productive in the transfer market, signing forward Santiago Castro from Bologna for 35 million euros ($40 million), talented teenage midfielder Rodrigo Mora from Porto for 25 million euros ($29 million), and Argentina right back Nahuel Molina from Atletico Madrid for 13 million euros ($15 million).

Also joining were midfielder Marten De Roon from Atalanta and center back Leonardo Balerdi from Marseille. The pair were both captains of their previous clubs.

And Gasperini blocked the sale of Manu Koné, who was reportedly sought by Chelsea.

Now Roma’s management will focus on another issue: clearing the final bureaucratic hurdles to gain authorization to build a long-sought new stadium. Key approval could come this month.

In the meantime, Roma supporters will expect more goals — and espressos — from Malen.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here