Are strikers overvalued?

Pepe LeFrits

I thought about putting this in the transfer section as it feels almost like it's directly addressed at us, but anyway, it's an interesting look at trends within the sport.

Qwiss

Without watching the video yet I'm reflexively going to say no. Centre mids and wingers are just as expensive. In fact the recent trend is for not very attacking centre mids like Rice, Caicedo, Enzo, etc to cost big money. Even this summer I think we are unlikely to see a striker sold for more than Wirtz. Dembele is the closest thing to a £100m striker to move in the last couple of years and a) he moved as more of a winger and b)hard to say he was overpriced given his current form.

invisibleman18

In answer to the question, no. Goals win matches and as a result, trophies.

Klaus

The fact he tries to play off Messi as not a striker in the video says all. What would Guardiola's Barcelona have won without him up top?

Spurs blowing their money on Solanke was a bad idea because it was Solanke, not because Solanke is a striker. He's talking about how they didn't win anything with Harry Kane, but reverse the analysis and look at what happened to Spurs instead when he left: they dropped to 17th place in 18 months because there's no one to earn them points when they aren't playing great.

invisibleman18 In answer to the question, no. Goals win matches and as a result, trophies.

Yep. The only value that matters is how many points per game you contribute with on the pitch and strikers have an outsized influence over this number, for good or bad, since a win is worth three points.

Pep got tired of having better players than anyone else all over the pitch without it counting for anything in Europe and signed the best goalscorer in the world, and suddenly a trebble was in the bag. Bloke literally went back to his Barca template, albeit with a different type of striker.

Rodri's injury has been played up as a big difference-maker for City this season, but had Guardiola not been so cocky that he sold Julian Alvarez last summer he would have had a proper striker to cover for Haaland's injuries and loss of form, and it would have saved City a lot of points.

flobaba

Think his point about how the striker is platformed is valid. The structure in place, then the right fit.

It's my one concern about about Gyokeres if I'm honest. We simply haven't played the way he prefers (read a recent interview where he was hailing Amorin for deploying him as a runner/transition player) in a long time. I feel like Arteta is more likely to try to change the player than adapt haramball (see Auba, and his use of Merino upfront when Havertz got injured instead of Trossard). We tend not to have the striker focus on running the channel, and prefer them to show good hold up play, aerial dominance, and ability to facilitate vs being the main goal target.

Not sure how we line up with both if Arteta wants to retain the same structure

Don Pacifico

flobaba It's my one concern about about Gyokeres if I'm honest. We simply haven't played the way he prefers (read a recent interview where he was hailing Amorin for deploying him as a runner/transition player) in a long time.

You wouldn't be the first person to express that concern. 😉

My one hope on that front is that Zubimendi enables swifter transitions but it's a big ask for one player.