Maguire is a modern great at heading it fecking wide
If C.Ronaldo is removed from the discussion: who are modern greats at heading?
- Thread starter Fortitude
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In regards to DCL mentions here I’d actually rate Richy above DCL for headers in the box. DCL is better overall in the air all over the pitch though.
Did anyone even read the OP?
It really feels like D&D at times. You’ve won the header, now roll the dice to determine the direction of your shot.
Agree with this. Training and player development has changed to reflect the short passing game embraced since the late 2000s. I don't think either academy kids or first-team players will be working on high crossing drills anywhere near as often as 30 years ago. Heading is something you need to be working on regularly to get the timing right and it's pretty obvious it's not prioritised amongst many forwards who find themselves on the end of crosses into the penalty area. Even the short centre-forwards in the 1990s were mostly still effective in the air - the likes of Larsson, Owen, Riedle, Kirsten, McCoist, Les Ferdinand, Fowler - were all well under 6ft and usually the smaller guy in their strike partnerships, yet they were trained to attack a ball in the air and scored plenty of headers. Generalising here, but what we have produced instead is a generation of forwards who are very sharp on the deck, but hopeless in the air.
He was better than anyone in the history of football. He scored one from outside the box when he played in Serie A. Vieri was also great at heading.
Yorke
Cole
Salas
Quinn
Claudio Lopez
Defensively I have been amazed by Roberto Ayala. Vidic was also a fantastic one, such as John Terry, Sol Campbell, Ramos etc
But as a number 9, Morientes was outstanding. Miroslav Klose too.
But as a number 9, Morientes was outstanding. Miroslav Klose too.
Falcao and Tim Cahill two examples showing you don’t have to be big to be good in the air.
And how could I forget as an Irishman, Shane Duffy is the one of the best headers of the ball I’ve ever seen, he’s made a career out of it. Amazing in the air defence and attack.
And how could I forget as an Irishman, Shane Duffy is the one of the best headers of the ball I’ve ever seen, he’s made a career out of it. Amazing in the air defence and attack.
Found this article full of stats if the topic interests anyone. Giroud stands out, as well as Llorente.
https://soccerment.com/top-heading-players-european-football/
https://soccerment.com/top-heading-players-european-football/
someone said it before me, Bierhoff was the best header of the ball in his generation. he was tall and physically strong, but i guess Ronaldo has the huge leap which allows him to connect to high balls.
Martin Hinteregger scares me
Winning the ball in the air and the actual heading of the ball are two entirely different skills.
Tim Cahill was the one I thought of. For his height he was ridiculous in the air.
No one under 30 springs to mind.
The Little Pea is the goat header(er).
The Little Pea is the goat header(er).
Most attacking aerial players that come to mind in recent seasons (in the prem) all trend towards the older side. Cavani, Antonio, Benteke, Jimenez, Llorente, Michu
I think he's brilliant aerially. He's got a great leap and timing. Excellent in the air.
Henrik Larsson was quite accurate at it.
I didn't!
Although OP could have just made the title "Is anyone below the age of 29 really good at headers?" if that's what he wanted to know. Then the fact that nobody automatically named someone below that age when thinking of the best at heading in recent times answered that part anyway and largely confirms what he was thinking I suppose.
Maybe a bit early, but i'd like to mention De Ligt, he's already nearing 20 headed goals at 22.
Back in the day, Andy Gray was as good as anyone.
Not modern but:
Muller, Karl Heinz Riedler and Bierhoff.
Muller, Karl Heinz Riedler and Bierhoff.
Sure. Keep naming the same players, well over 30, who were good at heading the football, right?
Cavani, Ramos, Falcao would be my 3 from recent times...
Very true. Even in an informal sense this had dropped a lot, but this summer there's actually official guidance from the FA on reducing the amount of higher force headers in training. I think it's a maximum of 10 over any given training week. Which will obviously be massively different compared to decades ago.
I think this is more pertinent to top flight football, as the disparity between the PL and the next three leagues is pretty staggering when it comes to how often the ball is headed. It's obviously a more important skill (or at least a more applied skill) in those divisions. This is sometimes beneficial to players who climb the leagues, like Antonio and Austin who have that edge aerially. I think having an education well down the pyramid gives them a lot of in-game experience when it comes to in the air stuff, and it can be a useful talent in the top leagues where a lot of the players will have less experience in that facet of the game.
Slightly off topic. I want to see how these guys go into their 40s/50s/60s given the amount of bashing their heads have taken.
Jardel and Falcao
Jardel is possibly the only player I can think of that is not inferior to Ronaldo in heading, he was just a monster with his positioning, heading power and heading accuracy.
Falcao also has an amazing heading technique, with both power and accuracy, so yes also an amazing header even if not very tall.
Jardel is possibly the only player I can think of that is not inferior to Ronaldo in heading, he was just a monster with his positioning, heading power and heading accuracy.
Falcao also has an amazing heading technique, with both power and accuracy, so yes also an amazing header even if not very tall.
Tim Cahill was a beast in the air. Used to play him as a striker next to Fellaini on FIFA. Needless to say, more than half of my goals were headers.
Times are definitely changing. I think as the game has developed, the number of headed goals has decreased rapidly, to the point that it will eventually be phased out of the game.
That being said, of the current crop of players, there are still some amazing headers of the ball.
My current top 5 excluding Ronaldo would be (in no particular order):
- Ramos
- Griezmann
- Calvert-Lewin
- Falcao
- Benteke
Steve Bruce
Hasn't scored more than 6 headed goals in EPL
Has to be Ramos
Falcao was so so so good. I was over the moon when we signed him
Sadly there's a lot of correlation between heading & dementia (and other relates diseases). It's hardly visible in the 40's but in the elder age... scarily high percentage of the stars from the 1960's and 1970's have some kind of neurocognitive issues.
Here's an article from the time where Denis Law had announced his diagnosis:
Gerd Müller, who had recently passed away, struggled with dementia, spending his last year lying in bed, not being able to talk etc.The Guardian said:
Cavani, if i had to put my life on the line.
He seems to to be able to manipulate his body in the right positions to get a header off whether it's sent in low or high.
He seems to to be able to manipulate his body in the right positions to get a header off whether it's sent in low or high.
Tim Cahill was brilliant in the air.
Another one was Chicharito. Not the biggest but a dynamite in the box and a natural at heading it in.
Of the current Premier League players, Cavani has to be the best.
DCL is already good and seems he’ll become great at.
Lukaku is also not bad.
Outside of the league, Ibrahimovic has also been prolific. I think Haaland will eventually develop this as well. Lord knows he’s got the attributes.
Another one was Chicharito. Not the biggest but a dynamite in the box and a natural at heading it in.
Of the current Premier League players, Cavani has to be the best.
DCL is already good and seems he’ll become great at.
Lukaku is also not bad.
Outside of the league, Ibrahimovic has also been prolific. I think Haaland will eventually develop this as well. Lord knows he’s got the attributes.
OP asks for players under 30 and we’ve had an Andy Gray mention 
6 of his 10 PL goals for us since joining are headers too. Guy loves it
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is worth a shout as well, similar technique to Falcao.
Yes, there is a correlation between heading & dementia, however there are hundreds of millions of non-footballers worldwide who also get dementia in old age. Just naming a few footballers who got it is anecdotal evidence and really means nothing.
From studies that I have read it seems that heading a football by itself is not really causing brain damage because it's not strong enough to cause concussion. The reason most likely are head clashes, or other concussion causing hard hits to the head such as elbows, shoulders, knees, even collisions with the goalposts. Obviously some of these such as head clashes happen when trying to head the ball, so there is a correlation there. But there are a lot of elbows to the head and such that are totally intentional and done for tactical purposes. I'm especially angry when I see one player trying to cleanly head the ball, but a second player who doesn't have a chance to win it still attacks aggressively and just headbutts the first guy to prevent him from heading. Most of the times these are defenders and you could see they know very well what they are doing. This should be a straight red in my opinion, but very rarely given.
There were a few small studies, such as the scottish one that showed 2-3 times increased risk in footballers, but these studies didn't control for confounding factors, so they were not completely conclusive. What we need is a large study (tens or even better hundreds of thousands of subjects) who got dementia, so you could control for all the confounding factors such as diet and lifestyle, obesity, family history, other morbidities such as diabetes and heart disease, occupational hasards (this would include professional football, boxing, american football, etc.), total number of concussions suffered, etc. I think a study like this would confirm already growing evidence that concussions are the main risk factor.
Giroud was quite good, no?
To be fair, Muller also had one hell of an alcohol addiction which probably contributed more to his condition than heading a football.