5 games missed through injury over the last 2.5 years is probably a better record than 90% of the league
The centre-forward market...
- Thread starter Rozay
- Start date
Sorry…what am I looking at here? He’s played in 12/12 league games this year, 37/38 last year (missed pre-season and went on strike) and 35/38 the year before. That’s not an injury prone footballer.
Jonathan David would be worth going for.
But it would have to be in the summer.
we need someone this January window unfortunately.
But it would have to be in the summer.
we need someone this January window unfortunately.
Watched Osimhen again tonight against Roma and I’m still unsure of him. He does 50% of things brilliantly and the other 50% terribly IMO. With players like that, naturally it could go either way depending on the provision of the right conditions that play to their strengths. He’s a great striker but not a great footballer. Which is the same for Haaland tbh.
Scored a great goal tonight mind, likely the winner.
Scored a great goal tonight mind, likely the winner.
He'll have one year left on his contract Spurs' leverage won't be as strong even to stop us if we're willing to pay a good fee
Also can't see Madrid going after him as they're saving up for younger options to a 35yr old Benzema who's still at the top of his game(Haaland, Endrick) or PSG simply because it's a boring AF league. If Poch was still there different story
Bayern might be possible if he's desperate for trophies but if we get CL football and show tangible improvement he'll prefer us IMO because he's eyeing Shearer's record
Osimhen is the man. His intensity is also infectious and would hopefully fire up the rest of the team.
Of all CFs we can buy, if we have the money it has to be Osimhen. He would thrive in the PL. Likes of Vlahovic would fetch the same amount of money but wouldn't be half as useful.
If the budget is still a concern, David and Toney are the best of the rest imo. Both could easily come in and help us out massively. Schick is having a terrible season and not sure of Felix as he is not starting too many games either
Osimhen has the potential to have the highest reward, but his lack of technical ability leaves question marks as to whether he will translate. But he is big, strong, fast, can finish, great in the air and a great presser. Those are a lot of positives. Although Lukaku had most of those too. With a team that creates a lot of chances and just needs them finished, I think he could be great. But from what I see, the more he is required to get involved himself, the greater the risk of him even spoiling the flow of the team.
I wouldn’t be mad if we signed him. He’s on a list of a few strikers I could get behind for different reasons. If we can get Felix for a good fee, I’d get him first. The other two I like most are not available or ready yet in Sesko and Endrick.
Really? He's got what one full season in the PL where he scored 12 goals and has admitedly started well this current one (8 in 11) and £80m is the going rate for that?
Yeah I'm always nervous about paying close to 100m for any player that has noticeable technical limitations (sort of like paying 80m for a CB that lacks any sort of pace). I tend to prefer someone who's goal numbers might not be as prolific but he's fantastic on the ball and can help the flow of the overall team.
Feck knows when we will atop being linked to Moussa fecking Dembele.
Moussa Dembélé is very average. Shick and Jonathon David are both good options. Hope we can get Gakpo (for the LW) and 1 of those 2 in for our CF options in January. Sick of seeing Sancho stinking the LW up as much as Rashford does in the CF position.
Ten Hag wants a striker-centric? Hopefully the board know what he means by that
Mayne he wants an eccentric striker?
If we sign a striker Rashford will move back to LW so that won't be a problem.
Schick would be great, just signed a new contract in the summer so assume he will be pricey.
Osimhen looks fantastic too
Osimhen looks fantastic too
If Erik wants him then he needs to get it agreed before World Cup or his price could shoot up after the tournament
We need an upgrade on Rashford either way.
Tbt you don't have many LW better than a top form Rashford. Try to name a few and you'd see. The ones who you would considered to be better than him are simply impossible to sign.
A top form Rashford happens maybe once every 10 or so games. It's like a top form Pogba. It comes about once in a while and then goes back into hiding again. I would rather a LW who can consistently deliver 8 out of 10 performances even if it doesn't reach a "top form" Rashford level.
If you look at the numbers you'd see Rashford has one of the best numbers on average among the LWs in the top leagues. Even if you include his last season when he was shite.
The numbers are great but I prefer to trust my eyes sometimes. Besides, I think there would also be stats and numbers that can show how wasteful he is and how many times he loses the ball or breaks down attacks.
The new Nico Gaitan. Absolute average player and constantly thrown in the mix.
Well imo you should watch some other top LWs sometime. You'd be shocked to find out how often they feck up I think. Highlights of course don't show that.
Or have a look at the forums of the top clubs. You'd see they're talking about their wingers pretty much like we're talking about Rashford or even worse.
Tbh I'm not even some of his big fans. But I don't really like how he's often discredited and looked down on here. I have some friends who support other teams we often watch football together and they all rate Rashford pretty high.
I don't think it's that high up the priority list. I wasn't a fan of Rashford's last season but I think he's been a lot better this season - he's just missing the finishing touch for the most part.
He looks a lot more comfortable from the left and has actually scored more goals from that position. I don't see it as a big problem and I'm not convinced Gakpo is any better.
David looks really good. Schick is having a shit season so far and Dembele is as average as it comes.
Yes, I get your point but he is playing for Brentford. (Can we still say this after our result against them... I'm going yes)
He got more than 30 goals the year they were promoted and I haven't watched him that much but he appears to be more than just goals.
We have to take a chance on someone if Ronaldo goes in January.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/score...g=Sturm&spielerposition_id=&filter=0&yt0=Show
Just take the transfermarkt pure statistics and you see how poor the choice are on top of center forwards, a lot quick and nimble attacking players who are inside forwards or wingers, but the center forward market is really really small.
Just take the transfermarkt pure statistics and you see how poor the choice are on top of center forwards, a lot quick and nimble attacking players who are inside forwards or wingers, but the center forward market is really really small.
It's more what he's worth to Brentford. He's the difference between them having PL football or not.
The hope is that now that we have a proper manager and coaches, and are moving towards a proper system and style of play, we might actually see Rashford kick back into form like he was a few years ago. It is only a hope and it may not happen, but he actually has been quite good this season when he's been playing on the left.
Schick from what I've heard is having a below average season. The best striker in Italy at the moment is Martinez.
Interesting to see the candidates that are being reported as our future center forward. One thing is 100% clear and that is that we need a new nr.9, and I would argue that we desperately need one already in January. But who? And is it even realistic that we can sign someone in January that is attainable, affordable, and good enough?
Due to a lack of other hobbies and out of interest I’ve tried to compare the “usual suspects” that we’re being linked with or the names that are regularly being thrown into the mix.
I’ve tried to statistically compare the players Osimhen, Vlahovic, Schick, David, Martinez, Toney and Dembele using certain stats from FBRef from the entire season of 21/22 to todays date as KPI’s. All stats are per 90 min.
Since we’re in need of center forward I’ve focused on some, in my opinion, key metrics such as;
- Goals + Assists - PenaltiesGoals,
- non penalty Goals - expected Goals,
- expected Assists,
- Goal Creating Actions,
- Dribble Success %,
- Defensive pressures,
- Clearances,
- Aerial Duels Won %.
I’ve compared each player and ranked them based on their performance on each metric, giving a maximum score of 7 to the highest performer and 1 to lowest performer.
I’ve then summarized the rankings(scores) from each KPI to see how they all compare.
Examples (the higher score the better):
- Goals + Assists – PenaltiesGoals (highest performer is Schick = score 7. Martinez = 6. Dembele = 5. Osimhen = 4. Vlahovic = 3. David = 2. Lowest performer is Toney = score 1)
- non penalty Goals - expected Goals (Vlahovic = 7. Toney = 1)
- expected Assists (Toney = 7, Osimhen = 1)
- Goal Creating Actions (Dembele = 7. David = 1)
- Dribble Success % (David = 7. Martinez = 1)
- Defensive pressures (David = 7. Vlahovic = 1)
- Clearances (Toney =7. Martinez =1)
- Aerial Duels Won % (Dembele =7. David = 1)
Surprisingly, after comparing and adding all these KPI’s together, the result is that Moussa Dembele has the best overall score.
The big positive from this is that Dembele is presumably also the one that is by far both the most attainable and affordable given his contract-situation (contract expiring in the summer). Transfermarkt values him at 18m euros, hence he should be a very realistic target to pursue already in January. I think he could prove to be a shrewd bit of business for whichever club that buys him, and I’m hoping that club is ours.
IMO Moussa Dembele fits perfectly fine into the mold of a modern center forward and what we need with power, pace, finishing abilities and technique and that he will offer us something that we don’t have in the squad now.
And if it doesn’t work out he wouldn’t be to costly and should be possible to move on with a very limited loss… Low risk, high reward.
Total scores
Dembele 39
Schick 38
Vlahovic 34
Toney 32
Martinez 31
David 27
Osimhen 26
Due to a lack of other hobbies and out of interest I’ve tried to compare the “usual suspects” that we’re being linked with or the names that are regularly being thrown into the mix.
I’ve tried to statistically compare the players Osimhen, Vlahovic, Schick, David, Martinez, Toney and Dembele using certain stats from FBRef from the entire season of 21/22 to todays date as KPI’s. All stats are per 90 min.
Since we’re in need of center forward I’ve focused on some, in my opinion, key metrics such as;
- Goals + Assists - PenaltiesGoals,
- non penalty Goals - expected Goals,
- expected Assists,
- Goal Creating Actions,
- Dribble Success %,
- Defensive pressures,
- Clearances,
- Aerial Duels Won %.
I’ve compared each player and ranked them based on their performance on each metric, giving a maximum score of 7 to the highest performer and 1 to lowest performer.
I’ve then summarized the rankings(scores) from each KPI to see how they all compare.
Examples (the higher score the better):
- Goals + Assists – PenaltiesGoals (highest performer is Schick = score 7. Martinez = 6. Dembele = 5. Osimhen = 4. Vlahovic = 3. David = 2. Lowest performer is Toney = score 1)
- non penalty Goals - expected Goals (Vlahovic = 7. Toney = 1)
- expected Assists (Toney = 7, Osimhen = 1)
- Goal Creating Actions (Dembele = 7. David = 1)
- Dribble Success % (David = 7. Martinez = 1)
- Defensive pressures (David = 7. Vlahovic = 1)
- Clearances (Toney =7. Martinez =1)
- Aerial Duels Won % (Dembele =7. David = 1)
Surprisingly, after comparing and adding all these KPI’s together, the result is that Moussa Dembele has the best overall score.
The big positive from this is that Dembele is presumably also the one that is by far both the most attainable and affordable given his contract-situation (contract expiring in the summer). Transfermarkt values him at 18m euros, hence he should be a very realistic target to pursue already in January. I think he could prove to be a shrewd bit of business for whichever club that buys him, and I’m hoping that club is ours.
IMO Moussa Dembele fits perfectly fine into the mold of a modern center forward and what we need with power, pace, finishing abilities and technique and that he will offer us something that we don’t have in the squad now.
And if it doesn’t work out he wouldn’t be to costly and should be possible to move on with a very limited loss… Low risk, high reward.
Total scores
Dembele 39
Schick 38
Vlahovic 34
Toney 32
Martinez 31
David 27
Osimhen 26
Last edited:
Interesting post, lot of effort gone into it!
I think the price and ability to probably get in January can't be overstated in a positive for Dembele. We've also scouted him heavily in the past, so it wouldn't surprise me if he is a serious option.
I don't think we can discount the potential for a leftfield opportunity, like Felix or something we've not considered, to come onto the market. Especially with with the potential for Ronaldo leaving, it could open up some serious spending power.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Dembele is not among the best with regards to defensive pressures, but not the worst either to be fair. The full "ranking overview" is below (remember that the higher number the better):
- Goals + Assists – PenaltiesGoals (Schick=7. Martinez=6. Dembele=5. Osimhen=4. Vlahovic=3. David=2. Toney = 1)
- non penalty Goals - expected Goals (Vlahovic=7. Schick=6. Martinez=5. Osimhen=4. Dembele=3. David=2. Toney=1)
- expected Assists (Toney=7, Vlahovic=6. Martinez=5. David=4. Dembele=3. Schick=2. Osimhen=1)
- Goal Creating Actions (Dembele=7. Schick=6. Martinez=5. Vlahovic=4. Toney=3. Osimhen=2. David=1)
- Dribble Success % (David=7. Dembele=6. Vlahovic=5. Schick=4. Osimhen=3. Toney=2. Martinez=1)
- Defensive pressures (David=7. Martinez=6. Osimhen=5. Toney=5. Dembele=3. Schick=2. Vlahovic=1)
- Clearances (Toney=7. Schick=6, Dembele=5. Osimhen=4. Vlahovic=3. David=2. Martinez=1)
- Aerial Duels Won % (Dembele=7. Toney=6. Schick=5. Vlahovic=4. Osimhen=3. Martinez=2. David=1)
Thanks.
Regarding January I absolutely agree with what you're saying. And yes, hopefully our previous scouting of him makes this an easy one to get over the line (provided that we've actually been scouting and having an interest in him previously).
With regards to a leftfield opportunity like Felix I can't personally see that happening, especially not in January, solely from a financial point of view even if Ronaldo is leaving as Atl.M would probably demand somewhere in the region of 80m euros. Perhaps in the summer though when/if we qualify for Champions League and have improved our finances.
Dembele now in January, and Joao Felix in the summer?
It is meaningless, there are a lot of things to concern to do math like this. For example: You give score by ordinal numbers but if the gap between the 1st and 7th is small then you give the 1st one 7 points and the 7th 1 point => It is 7 times different for a <10% gap in real performance?
(I am a financial analyst and these non-sense numbers really made me annoying)