{"id":299737,"date":"2025-07-28T23:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/299737\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T23:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:44:10","slug":"isak-gyokeres-and-ekitike-herald-a-new-age-of-the-center-forward-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/299737\/","title":{"rendered":"Isak, Gy\u00f6keres and Ekitik\u00e9 herald a new age of the center-forward | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s only been a decade since it seemed the center-forward was being refined out of existence. Spain had won Euro 2012 with Cesc F\u00e0bregas as a false nine, and Germany, who largely took Spain as a model, were less than convinced they needed one at the 2014 World Cup. They fielded Thomas M\u00fcller as a false-ish nine until the quarter-final, when J\u00f6gi L\u00f6w finally went back to basics and turned to Miroslav Klose. That he was 36 only seemed to confirm that the old-fashioned No 9 was an old-fashioned phenomenon \u2013 a dying breed. Yet this summer, the main interest in the transfer market has been the carousel of strikers.<\/p>\n

Of course, strikers never entirely disappeared. The four leading scorers in the Premier League<\/a> in 2014\u201315 were Sergio Ag\u00fcero, Harry Kane, Diego Costa and Charlie Austin. Mauri Icardi and Luca Toni topped the charts in Italy, while Cristiano Ronaldo, his conversion to A No 9 complete, was top scorer in Spain (although that he was followed by Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, and Neymar suggested a greater variety of goalscorer there).<\/p>\n

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The feeling, though, was that the cleverest football \u2013 the most advanced football \u2013 involved a central forward who was there at least as much for his movement and ability to link play as for his finishing. The phenomenon of goalscoring wide players \u2013 such as Messi at Barcelona, Arjen Robben at Bayern or Eden Hazard at Chelsea, a mantle which has been taken up today by Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and Raphinha \u2013 meant goals came from a greater array of sources.<\/p>\n

But while the goalscoring wide forward remains, there has been a return to top-level acceptance for the central striker. Pep Guardiola, the coach who seemed most sceptical of traditional No 9s \u2013 never even really seeming entirely convinced by Ag\u00fcero \u2013 perhaps began it when Manchester City signed Erling Haaland. The big Norwegian has caused City to make a significant adjustment to their style. He does not join in play in the way every other Guardiola player does. He does not drop into midfield or pull wide \u2013 a creative tension that brought a treble in his first season at the club, but which was perhaps a factor in City\u2019s disappointment last season.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the most common criticism of Arsenal was that they lacked a center-forward. They needed to play well to win, because they didn\u2019t have a player who could pounce on a half chance to steal a victory from a tight game, or at times even convert their good play into goals. Alexander Isak would have seemed a very natural fit for them, but a fee of \u00a3120m\/$140m or more was never within range, and so they have ended up with Viktor Gy\u00f6keres<\/a>. It\u2019s a calculated risk given he is 27 and has only really been prolific in the last four seasons \u2013 two in the Championship with Coventry and two in Portugal with Sporting \u2013 but so long as concerns that he takes too long to get his shot away in crowded situations prove unfounded, he would seem to answer a specific need, even if there are times when Kai Havertz is preferred in that central role.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Isak, though, who stands at the center<\/a> of the great striker shuffle. He is tall and quick, his movement intelligent, and he has proved over the past two seasons a consistent Premier League scorer. It\u2019s understandable why Newcastle are so desperate to keep him, but understandable too that he feels undervalued on \u00a3120,000 a week\/\u00a36.2m ($8.4m) a year. He has three years left on his contract, so beyond the fear that he could sulk, there is little reason for Newcastle to let him go. They can insist on a fee of \u00a3140m or more \u2013 certainly enough to buy a high-class replacement, possibly Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko from RB Leipzig.<\/p>\n

Which is what makes it odd that Isak made his availability public only after Liverpool had signed Hugo Ekitik\u00e9<\/a>, who has a similar profile to Isak but, at 23, is far less developed. Chelsea might also have been interested in Isak had they not already bought two center-forwards in Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Liam Delap. Perhaps, by selling one or both of Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez and Luis D\u00edaz, Liverpool could afford him. To sign a second central forward would be a remarkable step for a club where for several years one of the main roles of the center-forward has been to clear the way for Salah. That perhaps suggests change is coming \u2013 Liverpool beginning to prepare for life without Salah, who is, after all, 33.<\/p>\n

But Isak is not an old-school striker. Alan Shearer was perhaps the last of his line, at least at elite level in England. From Marco van Basten onwards, through Andriy Shevchenko and Thierry Henry, forwards have become much more complete figures, combining elements of the target-man, the channel-runner and the poacher. Isak and Jo\u00e3o Pedro have the full range of skills; Ekitik\u00e9 and \u0160e\u0161ko are developing them. Central forwards, with a wider range of attributes than their predecessors, are suddenly fashionable again as football moves into a new age of the striker.<\/p>\n