If C.Ronaldo is removed from the discussion: who are modern greats at heading?

[Fortitude]

I doubt an opposing view can even be formulated to C.Ronaldo being one of the best headers of a ball in the entire history of the game. If he connects cleanly with a cross, a goal or solid attempt at goal is guaranteed.

What I thought when watching his latest exploit is: who else out there could you say the same of? In that exact scenario, if you removed Ronaldo and put in other players, who else would you give high odds of scoring to?

Concerns over CTE and a general aversion from teams to cross high in general has lessened heading as an art, in my view; the days of star headers of a ball seem long gone. The likes of Oliver Bierhoff and Karlheinz Ridle, or even Miroslav Klose having no modern-day equivalence and Ronaldo himself being an anachronistic throwback by now kind of makes clear heading is nowhere near as important in a coaching curriculum as it used to be.

If I'm not wrong in my musing, the next rung down of good headers of the ball are all close to retirement themselves, with what they were coached not really being seen in the younger players coming up. Cavani, Lewandowski, Sergio Ramos are players who instantly come to mind as I'm typing this.

Is this assessment incorrect? Removing Ronaldo: If you construct a top 5 great goalscoring headers of the ball, does anyone under 29 or so make the cut? If not, why do you think that is? And additionally, is Ronaldo the last all-time level header(er?) of a ball we'll ever see (directly in relation to CTE concerns and the future marginalisation of the skill)?

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Are we just talking about goals or defensive headers as well? Van Dijk was quite good before his injury on both ends. Otamendi, Giroud were both solid.

Benteke features on these lists as well:

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[Zehner]

Marquinhos is pretty good, too.

I think we see less great headers because crosses as a "stylistic device" were less popular when the current players were in academies. In recent years we see more and more teams relying on them again when the opponent sits deep, in some cases to great success, so I guess the next generations will produce better headers on average again. Maybe even this one. Haaland is said to have improved a lot in this department this season, e. g.

 

[Skills]

Vidic was a menace in the opposition box

 

[esmufc07]

I always thought Crespo was a great header of the ball. I seem to remember him scoring a very good one v us in a CL knockout (2005 I think, they beat us 1-0 at OT aswell).

 

[Desert Eagle]

Klose,Vidic, Chielleni

 

[Samid]

Maguire has to be up there? He’s a magnet in the opposition box.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Ibra should be up there too.

 

[JPRouve]

Griezmann is one of the player that has been very good at it from a relatively young age. The only issue being that he often takes free kicks and corners, he also played for Barcelona. Benzema is also excellent at them.

 

[nygaard]

Jardel, Trezeguet

 

[Isotope]

OP said, recent player under 29. Probably Calvert-Lewin? Van Dijk and Mane are pretty good also.

 

[Kazi]

Falcao

 

[Chipper]

Ramos? Terry?

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Ronaldo is just so good at them (that Juve one was amazing), the drop after him is noticeable, struggling to think of others even close.

Not sure if 'modern' (or necessarily 'great') but I remember playing Everton when they had Cahill and Ferguson and hoping they didn't get corners or freekicks as they were both very good in the air. Ferguson's height + leap made it difficult to stop if ball came near him

 

[AjaxCunian]

Luuk de Jong.

 

[harms]

Maguire has to be up there? He’s a magnet in the opposition box.

Not sure if serious — heading, especially in the opposition box, is not only about winning the ball, it's also about sending it in the right direction with power and accuracy. While Maguire is really good at the former, he's awful at the latter. Probably the biggest disparity between those two skills that I've seen in a player.

 

[led_scholes]

Kerlon

 

[Jericho]

Falcao

Good call.

 

[Oranges038]

I can't think of anyone that really stands out. Maybe DCL or Jimenez.

Other than that. I'd say Borgetti - he was just brilliant at it.

 

[dinostar77]

One of the best headers of the ball was Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean of Everton. In 1927–28 he scored 60 league goals in 39 appearances (still a record in England). According to ‘The Title: The Story of the First Division’ (2017) by Scott Murray, 40 of these goals were headers. This was just in one season!

Not a modern great, but football has been around for a long time.

 

[harms]

From the relatively recent ones, Falcao was incredible. He wasn't the tallest — he was actually relatively short, but he had the same unique ability to adjust to the ball at any height, ridiculous leap and, obviously, innate goalscoring instinct.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Giroud and Benzema belong there.

 

[Ekeke]

Cavani

He has scored 50 headed goals out of his 296 goals in 467 games. Thats more than his left footed goals of which he has 47

Falcao has 30 in 292 games on whoscored

 

[Zlatattack]

Shearer.

 

[thegregster]

Henrik Larrson was brilliant in the air. He has a great leap.

 

[Andersonson]

Bierhoff

 

[harms]

Good spot though, most of the names that I can think of are already 30 years old or older. Calvert-Lewin (7 goals last season) & André Silva (10 goals last season) come to mind, but they're not really elite either. Haaland will probably work on that side of his game and emerge as a modern great at heading in a way that Cristiano did — he has all the tools for that step up in theory.

 

[Tomuś]

Maguire has to be up there? He’s a magnet in the opposition box.

He is a magnet bit his heading technique ranges from poor to erratic. Should've had way more headed goals for us already.

 

[harms]

Falcao has 30 in 292 games on whoscored

That's on whoscored & not on Falcao though. At his peak he was scoring more than 10 headers per season (11 goals in both 09/10 and 11/12). Cavani is a good shout though, I'd have him only slightly behind Falcao.

 

[Tomuś]

I rate Cavani's.

 

[RoyH1]

Ramos and Lewa come to mind.

Back in the day Jardel and Hakan Sukur were a huge danger in the box every tieme a cross came in.

 

[Dancfc]

Ballack

 

[Pep's Suit]

I remember Kompany and Messi scoring some fine headers...

 

[Glorio]

Already mentioned but deserves another for how late it came through:
Edinson "Head in son" Cavani

 

[snk123]

Drogba? His header in the CL final was something else

 

[RUCK4444]

I'm not sure the stats will back me up but the opposition player I feared most in the air was Drogba. Dude was a beast in the air.

Edit: @snk123 you beat me to it.

 

[breath]

No one under 30 currently stands out, Kluivert was immense

 

[Zlatan 7]

Not sure if serious — heading, especially in the opposition box, is not only about winning the ball, it's also about sending it in the right direction with power and accuracy. While Maguire is really good at the former, he's awful at the latter. Probably the biggest disparity between those two skills that I've seen in a player.

I laughed at this bit, ol’ fifty pence head Maguire loves finding the stands with a header.

 

[redrobed]

I’ve been supporting Utd through thick and thin since the 90’s so am lucky enough to remember some true greats of heading of the ball - Sheringham, Vidic and Scholesy would all be right up there. Rio’s heading was also underrated (I think in fairness because he had other aspects of his game that were even stronger).

 

[SoCross]

Patrik Schick came to mind for some reason - seen him score some good headers but definitely not elite level. Struggling to think of a modern day forward actually.