Yea, you and your padawan
make a good point, however it depends a lot on the set up. Modern game sees most goal scoring players nominally starting wide because there is more space and they pull defenders wide, which makes the #9 more of a facilitator. However it’s not only Lewa, you also missed Suarez and now Haaland - a complete #9 ala Fenomeno in today’s game IMO would still play as a #9. He will drop deep, peel wide and so forth but he is much more dangerous as a central player than a wide forward for me, even by today’s standards.