Best Striker in the World

B20

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You have to admit, "does barely anything outside of goals" is an odd criticism of a striker. His scrambled egg not as good as it could be?
Not it is not. It's a criticism forever put against Inzaghi and why he would never compare to players like Shevchenko, Del Piero, Henry etc.

Same with Nistelroy and why he was chucked out of united. And Nistelroy was better in the buildup than Inzaghi and Haaland.
 
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stefan92

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In what final did Haaland decide the game and score goals? Kane won the world cup golden boot remember among many other big games he has scored and won the game for his team in.
Haaland scored twice in the final for Dortmund's DFB cup win 2021.

Though I agree that Kane's reputation is worse than it could be simply because he signed a stupid contract and is stuck at Tottenham.

Every other player in this discussion is without a doubt a great player and they all are winning stuff. Just for Kane you (rightfully) have to make the excuse that he plays for a non-elite team.
 

Adam-Utd

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Kane, Lewandowski, Benzema, Haaland are the clear best right now.
 

troylocker

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I might have missed how you came up with that specific top 10 but why not show the current top 10 from the big five leagues instead? (Obviously the data must be easily available to do that. I am unsure if that is given.)
Definitely thank you for your effort!
The list I've dropped here are just numbers dropped for players previously discussed in this thread, not my personal top 10-list.

Lukaku in the initial list. Deary me.
Hard to argue against Lukaku being a top 10 striker in the world while at Inter from 19-21 (when the initial lists were made)?

Do you think if you put Haaland in that Madrid team last season, they are winning the CL? Was Haaland better than him last season? Or anybody else? The stats tell only one part of the story. There's a reason the Ballon d'Or is a foregone conclusion at this point, Benzema was head and shoulders above everybody else.
Impossible to know how RM would have done with Haaland in that team. I take my hat off for Benzema contribution to RMs season though. Bravo!
Last season Haaland missed 16 matches for Dortmund to injury, so it would be tough to make a case for Haaland against Benzema's monster season. Haaland had a higher goalratio and contributionratio for club and country, but I think Benzema finally had that season where he actually was the best forward in the world.
When you win Laliga and the CL being the topscorer in both, literally being their talisman throughout the KO-stages in the CL and being RMs best player throughout the season you deserve the Ballon d'or. Simple as.

Three best #9s in the world right now for me (not in any particular order, because they are so different): Lewa, Benzy and Haaland.

Which #9 would I have at Manchester United if I could choose freely?
Haaland - 22 years old with time on his side, still extremely unpolished and will probably go down in history as one of or the best goalscorer in the history of the game if he avoids serious injuries. I've never seen a better goalscoring talent or with as good movement and understanding of how to utilize space on a football pitch at his age (Yes, even better at scoring goals than R9, who was a more complete player). I've followed him closely for 4 years, and stated early in his Salzburg period that this was a generational talent and that I hadn't seen a striker that excited me as much since R9, with his unique skillset and physique. No one else even comes close. I'm a 6'4'' guy who played as #9 my entire seniorcareer, so I'm obviously biased though. It will surprise me if he doesn't beat the PL record in his debut season.....
 

arnie_ni

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Re lukaku above, it would have been rather easy to argue against him being top 10. Anyone that watched any of him knew he was still the same shit player we had and Chelsea bought, he was just in a weaker, slower league where his lack of anything decent outside his final finish didn't matter.
 

stefan92

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Re lukaku above, it would have been rather easy to argue against him being top 10. Anyone that watched any of him knew he was still the same shit player we had and Chelsea bought, he was just in a weaker, slower league where his lack of anything decent outside his final finish didn't matter.
That's not fair to him. He was in a physically better shape and he was used in a way that suited him more. Which isn't being a 9 always in the front line, but allowing him to run at defences with speed. His skillset doesn't really fit his body, which is why he has such a weird career.
 

arnie_ni

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That's not fair to him. He was in a physically better shape and he was used in a way that suited him more. Which isn't being a 9 always in the front line, but allowing him to run at defences with speed. His skillset doesn't really fit his body, which is why he has such a weird career.
Could you describe his skillset to me? That might explain our differences in opinion.
 

stefan92

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Could you describe his skillset to me? That might explain our differences in opinion.
Imho he is a fast and powerful player who is good enough at dribbling that he can just bulldoze through a defence. He can be used as a great counter attacking striker or even cutting inside from the wing. A more physical Rashford in a way, and that's how he was used in Italy when he had his best seasons.

However despite his size he is terrible at heading the ball or keeping the ball in tight spaces. Those are qualities of a typical 9 for a dominant team and he just doesn't have them. Whenever you ask him to play that way you'll get a terrible performance.

However that arguably puts him outside the "best striker" discussion and into discussion for other roles.
 

Idxomer

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I didn't actually believe Lukaku was one of the top 10 strikers in the world last year. He had a lot of hype around him then and was sold for £100m, so I put him in there.
 

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Thinking about last three seasons (19/20, 20/21, 21/22) and international competitions in that period, which I consider a fair time frame, I'd go (in soft order):
Tier 1: Lewandowski, Benzema, Mbappe
Tier 2: Kane, Haaland
Tier 3: Lukaku, Joao Felix, Immobile, Ronaldo, Andre Silva, Lautaro Martinez

Perhaps harsh not to include likes of Haller that were truly excellent, I really hope he recovers and comes back in full strength.
If I were to guess how I'd do it by the end of 22/23 season, so with 19/20 already out of the picture, I guess Ronaldo might get dropped, Haaland moved a tier up, Vlahović will come good too and Jesus can make his shout as well.
 

Righteous Steps

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How can people put anyone on Benzema level?

1. He is incredible goalscorer,
2. His all around game is easily best in the world when it comes to strikers,
3. and he's winning trophies, and recent CL trophy he's won basically single handedly for his team.

Hardly anyone besides Lewandowski ticks 2 out of these 3 boxes, so I have no idea how can people put anyone on his level, let alone as better than him.
Kane ticks 2 of the three also.
 

troylocker

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I didn't actually believe Lukaku was one of the top 10 strikers in the world last year. He had a lot of hype around him then and was sold for £100m, so I put him in there.
I mean, we're talking about a 29 year old with 68 goals and 15 assists for his national team, 343 goals and 103 assists on senior level. I'm pretty sure the hype didn't come out of nowhere.....How many active footballers can you mention with a better record? Not many.
FYI: Kane is the same age and has 50 goals and 14 assists for England and 329 goals and 89 assists total for club and country in his career.

Of course he's been among the top 10 strikers in the world in mulitiple stages of his career so far. He came off two straight 30+ goals seasons for Inter ending Juves scudetto-run with 2 straight League titles, and had scored 12 for Belgium the last 12 months, so you were not wrong putting him there.
 

2mufc0

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Easily Benzema, not just scoring against cannon fodder in pointless games but scoring on the biggest stages when it matters the most. His all round game is also top level.
 

Lecland07

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I think it's sad there's very few top strikers who are proper 9s - most of the best are the older ones (Benzema, Lewandowski). Even Kane and Lukaku nearly 30. Haaland is so far ahead of any remotely similiar player under 29. Not that long ago there would dozens of quality strikers around at any one time.

Football always goes in cycles though, expect we'll see more again before long.
Yep - when I think of the six-year age group between Kane and Lewandowski (aged 29 to 35), there were far more options for the striker role : Kane, Lewandowski, Benzema, Aguero, Cavani, Neymar, Lukaku, Vardy, Costa, Aubameyang - might even be able to include Messi since he played there for Barcelona in the end.

The next six years, between Mbappe/Haaland and Kane, I can't really think of anyone aside from Gabriel Jesus. Something seemed to go wrong here.
 

troylocker

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Are numbers everything though? Halaand does barely anything outside of goals. Someone like Benzema is a completely footballer and for me I'd have him anyday over the Norwegian.
I'm not going to argue that Benzema didn't have a fantastic 21/22 season. It was phenomenal!

He's turning 35 in December and crushed his second best season by far last season, he scored 12 goals more than in his 2nd best season and contributed to 50+ goals for only the 2nd time of his career.
In the 12 seasons he played for Real prior to last season he's scored 30 or more goals in all comps 3 times (30, 30 ad 32) and contributed to 40 or more goals 3 times (40, 41 and 51).
So last season is pretty much what you can call a "one off" season for him.

Haaland only had 29 goals and 8 assists last season (in 2388 minutes though), but was injured for long periods. In the 2 seasons prior to last season he scored 41 and contributet to 53 goals and scored 44 and contributed to 54 the year before. He was then 19 and 20 years old.... He has 20 goals and 3 assists in his first 21 games for Norway and 23 goals and 3 assists in his first 19 games in the CL....When the numbers are this extreme and this consistant, then the numbers does matter.
He's just turned 22 and has started his City career with 6 goals in his first 4 games in the PL. At his age Benzema had just made the move to Real and scored 9 goals and made 6 assists in his first season there. Haaland made 109 goalcontributions in 89 games for for Dortmund aged 19-21, Benzema made 93 goalcontributions in 148 (2750 minutes more) games for Lyon aged 17-21. Haaland also had more assists in his 89 games for Dortmund than Benzema had in his 148 games for Lyon....
 

Spoony

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Not it is not. It's a criticism forever put against Inzaghi and why he would never compare to players like Shevchenko, Del Piero, Henry etc.

Same with Nistelroy and why he was chucked out of united. And Nistelroy was better in the buildup than Inzaghi and Haaland.

That was to do with his spat with Ronaldo 7 CR.
 

TheLord

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Haaland first.
Benzema, Lewandowski and Mbappe second.

The rest are a tier below.
 

amolbhatia50k

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I'm not going to argue that Benzema didn't have a fantastic 21/22 season. It was phenomenal!

He's turning 35 in December and crushed his second best season by far last season, he scored 12 goals more than in his 2nd best season and contributed to 50+ goals for only the 2nd time of his career.
In the 12 seasons he played for Real prior to last season he's scored 30 or more goals in all comps 3 times (30, 30 ad 32) and contributed to 40 or more goals 3 times (40, 41 and 51).
So last season is pretty much what you can call a "one off" season for him.

Haaland only had 29 goals and 8 assists last season (in 2388 minutes though), but was injured for long periods. In the 2 seasons prior to last season he scored 41 and contributet to 53 goals and scored 44 and contributed to 54 the year before. He was then 19 and 20 years old.... He has 20 goals and 3 assists in his first 21 games for Norway and 23 goals and 3 assists in his first 19 games in the CL....When the numbers are this extreme and this consistant, then the numbers does matter.
He's just turned 22 and has started his City career with 6 goals in his first 4 games in the PL. At his age Benzema had just made the move to Real and scored 9 goals and made 6 assists in his first season there. Haaland made 109 goalcontributions in 89 games for for Dortmund aged 19-21, Benzema made 93 goalcontributions in 148 (2750 minutes more) games for Lyon aged 17-21. Haaland also had more assists in his 89 games for Dortmund than Benzema had in his 148 games for Lyon....
Okay so Halaand is better because he's 22 and Benzema is 35 despite Benzema basically being the best player on the planet.
 

amolbhatia50k

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As Jose said, Benzema even when he doesn't score can have a fantastic. Those for me are the best strikers / attackers especially when they also score enough
 

Righteous Steps

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Kanes all round game is not as good as Benzemas.
But it’s no far off and certainly better than Lewandowski all round game.

Kane is a better passer than Benzema, Benzema is a a better dribbler has a better touch and a more naturally gifted footballer, but after him Kane is right behind in terms of top forwards who can score and create also.
 

troylocker

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Okay so Halaand is better because he's 22 and Benzema is 35 despite Benzema basically being the best player on the planet.
We agree that Benzema was better last season, now let's see if he can replicate that season. There is nothing that suggests that Haaland will slow down or not continue to improve and deliver even more scary numbers in the years to come. Benzema is turning 35 and just delivered a "one off" season compared to the rest of his 17 years long senior career, where he played second fiddle to a better striker or was a tier below the very best.
 

B20

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We agree that Benzema was better last season, now let's see if he can replicate that season. There is nothing that suggests that Haaland will slow down or not continue to improve and deliver even more scary numbers in the years to come. Benzema is turning 35 and just delivered a "one off" season compared to the rest of his 17 years long senior career, where he played second fiddle to a better striker or was a tier below the very best.
Conversely, let's see if Haaland will replicate his form in a new tougher league.

It's a weirdly selective logic.
 

troylocker

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But it’s no far off and certainly better than Lewandowski all round game.

Kane is a better passer than Benzema, Benzema is a a better dribbler has a better touch and a more naturally gifted footballer, but after him Kane is right behind in terms of top forwards who can score and create also.
Kane's passing. Show me the stats that shows Kane's passing and creativity is better than Benzema's, Lewandowski's or even Haaland's for that matter? Well, you don't have to. Numbers for club in leaguegames and European comps since the start of last season:

TotalShortMediumLong
PlayerSpanNationPosSquad90sCmpAttCmp%TotDistPrgDistCmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%AstxAA-xAKP1/3PPACrsPAProg
Erling Haaland2021-22 to 2022-23no NORFW2 squads27.141457871.65178103225433176.710514771.4122352.296.5+2.5281724045
Harry Kane2021-22 to 2022-23eng ENGFWTottenham42.9730104469.914731465131040077.526635574.913620865.4109.7+0.3581034911134
Robert Lewandowski2021-22 to 2022-23pl POLFW2 squads45.4817105477.511755227851461883.222428478.9457361.667.8-1.8615648481
Karim Benzema2021-22 to 2022-23fr FRAFWReal Madrid44.11629193784.1241135373962109388.047455385.711614679.51412.3+1.7851171175207

Expected assists in League and European comps for club since the start of last season:
Benzema 0,28xA/90
Kane 0,24xA/90
Haaland 0,24xA/90
Lewandowski 0,17xA/90

But, but, but, what about Kane's passing? It's a myth!

They all have different playing styles, so they tend to play different type of passes. Haaland for instance plays a lot more direct than the others, releases the ball quicker and get less involved in the general play, but he is not a bad passer of the ball. Benzema is a lot more involved in the buildups in general.
 

NewGlory

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In the modern game you expect to see your striker involved in build up play and possibly dropping deeper at times. It's quite rare to see an out and out striker now that is purely all about goals. Personally if a player isn't great at the other stuff but amazing at putting the ball in the back of the net I would think they are missing something even though I'd think they were a great goal scorer.
Yeah, sure. But at the end of the day a win is when you score more goals than you concede. If your midfield and defense can keep the opponents out and your striker scores a lot of goals - you win. And that is the only thing that matters.

Somebody that scores a lot of goals, does something right. And it is a team sport, for feck's sake. The fact that they score a lot means - somebody else is good at build-up and the team as a whole wins, so that is the only thing that matters. There is more than one way to win games.

This criticism of "only scores" is lame, because it pretends scoring is something easy or trivial. Scoring is THE WHOLE POINT!
 

NewGlory

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That's a horrendous list. Ronald and nunez couldn't touch kane at the minute. Wind up?
Stupidest post in this thread.

Feck Harry Kane. He scores a lot of meaningless goals in a lot of meaningless games, but he almost always disappears in big games. He has never won SHIT in his life, and his career is not good enough to shine the shoes of Ronaldo's career. Ronaldo is one of the greatest players that has ever played this game, and as recently as last season he scored more than Kane in Premier League (!), while playing for a worse side, so - you don't know what you are talking about, Kane fanboy.

As for Nunez - he is young and hungry, and I would have him in my team over Kane, any day of the week.
 

troylocker

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Stupidest post in this thread.

Feck Harry Kane. He scores a lot of meaningless goals in a lot of meaningless games, but he almost always disappears in big games. He has never won SHIT in his life, and his career is not good enough to shine the shoes of Ronaldo's career. Ronaldo is one of the greatest players that has ever played this game, and as recently as last season he scored more than Kane in Premier League (!), while playing for a worse side, so - you don't know what you are talking about, Kane fanboy.

As for Nunez - he is young and hungry, and I would have him in my team over Kane, any day of the week.
Wow!
You still think Ronny saved us a last season? I'd have our "28/8-2021 squad" over that Spurs squad any day of the week.
As much as I like Nunes, he still has a lot to prove before he enters this conversation though.

I actually respect Kane for choosing to be a clubman over chasing trophies. It hurt his legacy for none English people, but it will probably put him on the top of the list of legends in the Spurs.
I just don't think he is as good as many in here thinks he is. Still world class though.
 

NewGlory

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Wow!
You still think Ronny saved us a last season? I'd have our "28/8-2021 squad" over that Spurs squad any day of the week.
As much as I like Nunes, he still has a lot to prove before he enters this conversation though.

I actually respect Kane for choosing to be a clubman over chasing trophies. It hurt his legacy for none English people, but it will probably put him on the top of the list of legends in the Spurs.
I just don't think he is as good as many in here thinks he is. Still world class though.
Are we talking about the same Kane who went on strike demanding to be released by Spurs? Or are we rewriting the past? He is there because he couldn't leave, not because he is loyal
 

Red Star One

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Wow!
You still think Ronny saved us a last season? I'd have our "28/8-2021 squad" over that Spurs squad any day of the week.
As much as I like Nunes, he still has a lot to prove before he enters this conversation though.

I actually respect Kane for choosing to be a clubman over chasing trophies. It hurt his legacy for none English people, but it will probably put him on the top of the list of legends in the Spurs.
I just don't think he is as good as many in here thinks he is. Still world class though.
No doubt Spurs fans will love him to bits and he's a legend indeed, but surely it will be remembered how he (multiple times) tried to force a move?
 

troylocker

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Are we talking about the same Kane who went on strike demanding to be released by Spurs? Or are we rewriting the past? He is there because he couldn't leave, not because he is loyal
No doubt Spurs fans will love him to bits and he's a legend indeed, but surely it will be remembered how he (multiple times) tried to force a move?
It is definitely a stain on his Spurs legacy, I guess he finally realized he was never going to win a trophy with them after all.
 

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The easiest question ever. Lewandowski by a countrymile.

The guy has 40 plus goals for 8 seasons in a row now. Was world class even before that at Dortmund.

Will you say things about the quality of Bundesliga? Lewandowski has the best goals per game ratio in the CL. Even higher than Messi and Ronaldo. The guy has like 80 goals for a bang average National Team.

What about all round game? Anyone who has watched Lewandowski play a decent amount knows that he has some of the best hold up play in the world. He has a very masterful first touch, ball control and silky skills. If you watch his first few matches for Barca for instance, you'll see how complete he is.

He's very adaptable and fits into all kinds of teams. Whether it's a Pep Guardiola possession based system, a counter attacking system with no service for Poland or an undefined style of play under Nico Kovac. The guy came to a new league and new team and immediately fitted in and started scoring for fun. Perfect striker for ANY system.

Always available and very rarely injured. Has one of the best goal ratios in Knockout games ever.

Name a striker who has been so consistently elite for such a long time with no off season. I'll wait.

The standout strikers of this generation are Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez. Simple as that. Others pale in comparison.

From the younger lot, Haaland is a limited player but a tremendous tremendous goalscorer. One of the best goal poachers in the world. Harry Kane is in his peak and a fantastic complete striker. Underrated because he plays for a club who don't really win the big things.