Martial is a poor example to use. He plays in a superior team to all of them whilst performing at 1/6th of his actual ability.
I also believe any one who can consistently get 10-20 goals at a lower level of club. Should be able to hit 30 -40 at a higher level.
Because les be honest. The ONLY 40 goal season forwards of buyable age are Halaand and Mbappe. Yet this thread is about those not named halaand nor mbappe
There isn't many strikers out there of under 25 that would improve our 1st 11, Haaland and Mbappe might be the only ones.
I also don't ever get the obsession with a 40 goal a season forward. Liverpool , Chelsea and City are proof it's actually a luxury. You are better off with an all round forward who can combine with your wide forward/wingers to plunder goals
Are they? What would 2008-2020 Barca or RM 2009-2018 be without their 40+ goals a season players.
Liverpool has 40+ goals a season from their 2 main wings alone. (Salah/Mane last 4 seasons: 17/18 - 64 goals, 18/19 - 53 goals, 19/20 season - 45 goals, 20/21 - 47 goals).
City has had around 30 goals a season from Aguero since 2012 + a ton of goals from backup strikers, wingers and midfield. Last 4 seasons City's forwards (Aguero, Jesus, Sane, Sterling and Torres) combined have scored: 17/18 - 88 goals, 18/19 - 94 goals, 19/20 - 77 goals, 20/21 - 47 goals. They are desperate for a new main striker and are ready to spend 100+M.
At the same time they have been supported by a very productive midfield (Silva, KDB, Mahrez, Bernardo, Gundo and Foden) who has combined scored: 17/18 - 37 goals, 18/19 - 54 goals, 19/20 - 56 goals, 20/21 - 62 goals.
I we had a pool of 8 to 10 players who scored a combined 110+ goals every season, which we don't, I agree that the need for a 40+ striker wouldn't been that big.
Chelsea scored 15 goals less than us in the prem last season, only Arsenal and Everton among the top 10 scored less. They won CL despite not even being among the 5 best teams in the tournament......and they just spent 110M on a striker.
Us the last 4 seasons:
Our main attackers (Lukaku, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Cavani and James) has combined scored: 17/18 - 51 goals (27 by Lukaku), 18/19 - 40 goals, 19/20 - 68 goals, 20/21 - 62.
Goals from attacking/b-to-b midfielders (Mata, Fellaini, Lingard, Sanchez, Pogba, McTom and Bruno): 17/18 - 30 goals, 18/19 - 33 goals, 19/20 - 25 goals, 20/21 - 44 goals (28 by Bruno)
Combined from this pool of attacking midfielders and forwards: 17/18 - 81 goals, 18/19 - 73 goals, 19/20 - 83 goals, 20/21 - 106 goals (Bruno adding a big number)
Add a 40+ goals a season striker to our squad and we instantly score 10-20 more goals a season.
As an example - Ronaldo vs. Haaland last season:
Ronaldo scored 27 goals from open play in 3751 minutes (139 minutes/goal) last season while Haaland for instance scored 38 goals from open play in 3540 minutes (93 minutes/goal). Ronaldo assisted 4 goals last season while Haaland assisted 13
Ronaldo had 183 shots vs Haalands 116 shots in the league and CL - Ronaldo scored on 14% of his total shots compared to 29% for Haaland.
Big games:
Ronaldo scored 2 goals in 610 minutes against Inter, Milan, Atalanta and Napoli last season (only 1 against Inter or Milan in 340 minutes), Haaland scored 7 goals in 501 minutes against Bayern, Leipzig, Wolfsbug and Frankfurt (5 in 240 minutes against Bayern and Leipzig). Champions League - 4 goals in 570 minutes for Ronaldo vs. 10 goals in 706 minutes for Haaland.
You just get more goals in general and more goals in the most important games which in the end wins you more games and points.
Real Madrid in LaLiga the 3 seasons before signing Cristiano: 66 goals and 76 points in 06/07, 84 goals and 85 points in 07/08 and 83 goals and 78 points in 08/09. Avg. 78 goals and 80 points.
Real Madrid in LaLiga with Ronaldo: 102 goals and 96 points in 09/10, 102 goals and 92 points in 10/11, 121 goals and 100 points in 11/12, 103 goals and 85 points in 12/13, 104 goals and 87 points in 13/14, 118 goals and 92 points in 14/15, 110 goals and 90 points in 15/16, 106 goals and 93 points in 16/17 and 94 goals and 76 points in 17/18. Avg. 107 goals and 90 points.
Real Madrid post Ronaldo: 63 goals and 68 points in 18/19, 70 goals and 87 points in 19/20 and 67 goals and 84 points in 20/21. Avg. 68 goals and 80 points.
Obviously not a luxury!
Even though there are more factors involved, it's pretty obvious that having a 40+ goalscorer in their team was essential to RM's success in the 10s and has been hard for them to replace those 40-60 goals a season since.
If we want to dominate English and European football we need a world class striker leading the line. DCL and most of the guys mentioned in this thread isn't, and I would much rather prefer that we bought a young superstar than a 33+ year old on his way down.
