Tall strikers on the road to superstardom

Today’s newsletter is a guest piece from Mohamed Mohamed (@moesquare on Twitter) on the increasing popularity of tall strikers in different kinds of football tactics.

He’s been writing about football in the public sphere for nearly a decade for various outlets, including The Analyst, The Athletic, and StatsBomb. As well, he’s dipped his toes into the world of YouTube with the channel Footy Insights, which looks into the present and past of the beautiful game.

The striker position has seen its peaks and valleys in the modern era. The 1990s and 2000s was a golden time for the position, with several players who’ve helped redefine what could be done. The 1990s had the likes of Romario, George Weah, and Ronaldo Nazario de Lima. Meanwhile, the 2000s had forwards such as Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, and Samuel Eto’o. While there continued to be top level center forwards going into the 2010s, a growing trend was eschewing the focal point ST in favor of playing a false nine to draw out the opposition CB’s, opening the space for the electric inside forward which were emerging across Europe. Sam Tighe did a helpful video on this trend:

By the end of the 2010s, there was a consensus that the position had seen better days in terms of depth of talent. Fast forward to today, and things are beginning to change in a fascinating manner. There is a plethora of young tall strikers in European football, and they come in a variety of archetypes. This isn’t to say that there weren’t jumbo sized strikers who were technically proficient. You can look back at clips of Karim Benzema and Zlatan Ibrahimović during their respective peaks and marvel at the stuff they could do on the pitch. However, the tall strikers of that era were more likely to be purely box threats.

Look across Europe and there’s diversity among the young strikers over 6’0”. Erling Haaland’s combination of freakish athleticism and off-ball movement has already made him an all-time level goal scorer. Alexander Isak and Victor Boniface are agile ball-carriers and dribblers for someone at their height. Benjamin Šeško is one of the best north-south athletes in today’s game. The future of the position is in good hands. As such, this post will focus on a few young strikers who aren’t quite household names, but could be within the next 12-24 months.

Samu Omorodion — FC Porto

Samu Omorodion was the focus of Chelsea’s whirlwind summer of transfer activity, nearly moving to the London club before it got halted and instead ending up with Porto. Samu is more of a throwback to the type of strikers we used to see in previous eras. He’s not looked to provide much in the way of passing and creation, as he can look awkward when facing forward and trying to make quick twitch dribbles. Rather, his value comes from being a forward who can wrestle against center-backs for territorial advantages. This includes even battling for position during throw-ins, which came in handy on occasion while with Alaves last season to help gain territory.

In addition, Samu’s off-ball movement is also solid, where he can find different ways of generating openings for himself. This includes playing on the blindside of CBs for potential headed opportunities, and flipping his hips for quick runs in behind into space. The timing on his near post runs are the most consistent. This helps explain why despite playing for a mid-table side who barely controlled possession, he was in the 82nd percentile in shots per 90 and 85th in non-penalty goals among La Liga forwards in 2023-24, according to FBref.

An example of the potential he has off the ball came during his 2nd goal in Porto’s 3-3 draw with Manchester United. It takes only two passes for Porto to breeze through United’s defensive structure, and Pepê has a 1v1 battle with Lisandro Martinez. Once Pepê gets a bit of breathing room, Samu veers towards the near post from Matthijs de Ligt’s blindside and has enough time to hammer the cut-back into the top corner.

It’ll be interesting to see how Samu performs as the main striker for a Porto side that’s in a transitional phase, both on the pitch, and off of it with André Villas-Boas coming in as the new president of the club. With the departures of Evanilson and Mehdi Taremi, Samu Omorodion will be looked at as the main box threat to help replace some of the goal production lost over the summer.

Ange-Yoann Bonny — Parma

Over the years, there’s been something of a spotty track record of wingers who have turned into strikers. The gold standard has long been Thierry Henry, who was an exciting winger in his early years before a slight tweak in his positioning at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger turned him into one of the best players of his era. In the years that followed, we’ve seen Alexandre Lacazette, Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay and others do it to varying degrees of success. Even Kylian Mbappé, arguably the best player in the world right now, has had some struggles.

In Ange-Yoan Bonny, we have another test case for this. What helps him is not only is he listed at around 6’2”, he’s got the frame needed to be a #9. He already held his own against second division center-backs in Italy, playing an important role in Parma’s promotion back to Serie A last season as a teenager. Defenders in Serie B were often overmatched against him, and the question was how Bonny would hold up against stiffer competition in Serie A.

So far, Bonny’s held his own. In addition to being capable of quick hitting flicks and backheels, he’s flashed the ability to make incisive passes for teammates making runs in behind. The creative metrics have been impressive in just over 500 minutes of action. Among Serie A forwards, he’s in the 90th or higher percentile in expected assists, key passes, and passes into the penalty area. The partial breakaway Parma had at the end of the first half vs Milan shows Bonny’s ability to create high value chances for others.

One of the comparisons that’s been made is with Bonny and Marcus Thuram, another winger who became a full-time forward. Thuram was probably more of an aerial threat at the same age than Bonny was, while Bonny excels more with his back to goal. Perhaps the biggest difference is Thuram’s considerably quicker, making him a bigger threat during transitions and off the ball. Another comp would be Joshua Zirkzee in terms of link-up play and playmaking, although the now Manchester United player showed more technical prowess with Bologna last season.

As more of the league gets to see him and build up a scouting report, there'll likely be a downturn in form. How resilient Bonny’s skillset will be key to whether or not Parma survive relegation this season, given his lack of acceleration makes it harder for him to create room in behind through off-ball runs. So far though, the early returns have been positive.

Hugo Ekitike — Eintracht Frankfurt

Hugo Ekitike has had a fascinating career so far despite only being 22 years old. He’s gone from being one of the brightest prospects in French football, to quickly becoming an afterthought with Paris Saint-Germain, to now looking like a player on track for stardom in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt. We only have just under 1100 minutes of Ekitike in the Bundesliga since his move last January, which is admittedly a small sample. The numbers though are mightily impressive. His shots per 90 rate is at 3.70, with a non-penalty expected goals and assist rate of 0.74 according to FBref. Over a full season, those numbers would be among the best in Europe.

One of the big differences among the three strikers is in terms of physicality. Samu and Bonny are comfortable playing with their back to goal and initiating contact with opposing center-backs. In contrast, that is an area of Ekitike’s game that’s lacking. He can get nudged off his spot while trying to seal a CB, and his high center of gravity makes it tough for him occasionally when dealing with aerial duels.

What’s exciting about Ekitike is despite being listed at just under 6’3, his speed and burst are impressive, which has arguably gotten better from what was seen in Ligue 1. His dribble and carry numbers in Germany (2.86 dribbles per 90, 1.18 carries into the box) have improved from his time in France (1.46 dribbles per 90, 1.03 carries into the box). He’ll sometimes use dummies to let the ball roll past him, or curl towards the flank to set up isolated 1v1s. If there was a play to represent why there’s such hype about him as a future star, it’s this sequence vs Dortmund. Tall footballers don’t tend to have this level of coordination and first step on the ball.

Off the ball, Ekitike is more of a mixed bag. Playing in an attacker friendly league like the Bundesliga means there are more transition opportunities, which he can take advantage of with his athleticism (his goal vs Hoffenheim this season being an example). One way for him to find space in behind during normal possession sequences is through coordinated movements where a teammate drops deep while he looks to curl into the box. His runs and movement have been less varied against settled defenses in the Bundesliga, which would be tough for him in other leagues where there is less space. As well, he could stand to be a bit more of a gambler as an off-ball mover.

Between his speed off the ball, burst both on and off the ball, along with flashes of high-end playmaking, the building blocks are there for Ekitike to become an electrifying talent. He’s also an example of the value of betting on prospects who performed admirably in a big 5 league as a teenager, especially in Ligue 1. Frankfurt are reaping the rewards for acquiring him when his stock was low, as they’ve now got one of the most exciting attacking duos in European football with him and Omar Marmoush. They’ll also be in line to profit massively in a future transfer, after already getting a ton of money recently for Randal Kolo Muani. With further improvements to his game, it’s possible Hugo Ekitike evolves into being one of the better strikers in European football in the not too distant future.

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