A world-class striker: the quintessential demand from fans when summer
rolls around. Find that man who'll turn that 15-goals-a-season position
into 20, that 20 into 30. A big name to inspire the crowd and carry the
goalscoring burden.
Last year's Premier League top two, Chelsea and Manchester City, have that sort of presence. Diego Costa scored 20 goals in his first season in England despite injury troubles, while Sergio Aguero's athleticism and lethality make him the best striker – perhaps the best player – in the country.
Neither Arsenal nor Manchester United can match them in that department – yet. But these two giant clubs are more likely to endure a long and ultimately frustrating summer in their pursuit of the ideal centre-forward.
Arsene Wenger has already begun to address the turning of the Gunners from a good team into a very good one with the recruitment of Petr Cech in goal. Up front, however, Olivier Giroud has been straddling that line for several seasons.
In theory, the former Montpellier man ticks most of the boxes as a strong but technically proficient lone striker who can provide a focal point for the creativity behind him. In practice, however, a few too many of his goals come in the routine 2-0 wins against those a level below. A few too many of his biggest games are accompanied by his biggest misses. Nineteen goals across all competitions are not the numbers of a striker in the 'elite' category.
Last year's Premier League top two, Chelsea and Manchester City, have that sort of presence. Diego Costa scored 20 goals in his first season in England despite injury troubles, while Sergio Aguero's athleticism and lethality make him the best striker – perhaps the best player – in the country.
Neither Arsenal nor Manchester United can match them in that department – yet. But these two giant clubs are more likely to endure a long and ultimately frustrating summer in their pursuit of the ideal centre-forward.
Arsene Wenger has already begun to address the turning of the Gunners from a good team into a very good one with the recruitment of Petr Cech in goal. Up front, however, Olivier Giroud has been straddling that line for several seasons.
In theory, the former Montpellier man ticks most of the boxes as a strong but technically proficient lone striker who can provide a focal point for the creativity behind him. In practice, however, a few too many of his goals come in the routine 2-0 wins against those a level below. A few too many of his biggest games are accompanied by his biggest misses. Nineteen goals across all competitions are not the numbers of a striker in the 'elite' category.
Over at Old Trafford, Louis van Gaal has just parted ways with two of last season's first-choice strikers, Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao. It leaves him with just Wayne Rooney (who played nearly as many games last season in midfield as he did up front), Javier Hernandez (who last term was shunted out on a largely unsuccessful loan to Real Madrid) and James Wilson (a 19-year-old afforded two starts in 2014-15) in his stable of attackers.
Of those, only Rooney has a record of regularly scoring goals at the top level and, even then, his performances have been patchier in recent years.
Van Gaal has bought impressively so far this summer, with wideman Memphis Depay joined by right-back Matteo Darmian and a new central-midfield pairing of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger to immediately rival any in the league. But his hints at a "surprise" new striker may have to come to fruition if that potential is to be turned into enough goals to challenge for the title.
The idea, for now, is to spread the goals around the attack. Pedro has been identified as United's latest target and his presence on the right of a 4-3-3, with Rooney central and Depay on the left, means Van Gaal is willing to start the season with just three central strikers (including Wilson and Hernandez).
And is there actually anyone out there who fits the bill as an attainable, world-class frontman? Is there anybody for either team who could guarantee an improvement upon, or even simply equivalent cover for, Giroud or Rooney? It would appear that there is none, much less any value.
One by one, the already small handful of options doing the rumour rounds is dwindling. Edinson Cavani's agent has poured cold water on talk of an exit from Paris Saint-Germain as space opens up to play his natural position, while highly-rated Lyon star Alexandre Lacazette is adamant that he wants to stay exactly where he is.
Arsenal have been linked with Karim Benzema almost constantly during Giroud's tenure at the Emirates Stadium and, though Wenger, as ever, remains coy on the subject of the Real Madrid striker, Goal understands that the north Londoners are prepared to wait until the end of the window to get him, when conditions may be more favourable.
With 133 goals for the Blancos, the France international is the only linked name who would offer any kind of guarantee of quality but there would appear to be almost zero incentive for him to leave the Santiago Bernabeu, save a sudden and profound aversion to sunny days.
Though not as crucial to Madrid as Cristiano Ronaldo – who is? – Benzema has scored at exactly one goal every two games for them over the five seasons after his quieter 2009-10 debut. Although, should Rafa Benitez move Gareth Bale and/or Ronaldo into central roles, as has been mooted, an opportunity may arise for the Frenchman's suitors. Even then, his loss even as cover would only prompt the same questions for the Spaniards as Arsenal and United face now.
- Barclays Premier League 2014/2015
| Karim Benzema | Olivier Giroud | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | FW | Position | FW |  |
| 29 | Games played | 27 | ||
| 2,311 | Minutes Played | 1,867 | ||
| 29 | Starts | 21 | ||
| 0 |  Substitution On  | 6 | ||
| 22 |  Substitution Off  | 10 | ||
General
Karim Benzema Olivier Giroud Passes 790 764 Passing Accuracy 79.2% 67.7% Passing Accuracy opp. Half (%) 77.8% 64.3% Duels Won 91 162 Duels lost 120 206 Duels won (%) 43.1% 44% Aerial duels won 21 103 Aerial duels lost 22 100 Aerial Duels Won (%) 48.8% 50.7% Recoveries 60 60
BENZEMA vs GIROUD | Arsenal might envy Real Madrid but are unlikely to trade up on French strikers
Rule out Benzema and other pie-in-the-sky possibilities like Thomas Muller, and there's not much left. Van Gaal maintains an interest in Tottenham's Harry Kane but would have to pay around £50m (€72m) for a youngster with only one explosive season under his belt.
Such is the problem with strikers. They are, as a rule, the most overvalued players on the market and Premier League clubs have at best a mixed record when it comes to taking that kind of colossal gamble. For every €45 million spent on an Aguero, there's €58m on Fernando Torres – proven, even, as a Premier League goalscorer before that deal went so spectacularly wrong. For every Costa, an Andy Carroll.
If you can't reliably buy the best strikers at the peaks of their powers, it is wiser to invest earlier. It can be tough to trust youth in an era in which the financial stakes are so high, when every game could risk millions. Perhaps that is why a clearly failing Falcao started 17 games for United last season when the promising Wilson was given merely two. Now the youngster might have to take on an even bigger role than his Colombian predecessor, a year short of applicable match experience.
Wenger has hinted at first-team opportunities for 19-year-old Chuba Akpom this season after his pre-season hat-trick against a Singapore XI but, of course, the season-long loan of Yaya Sanogo to Ajax shows that not every youngster will be able to take their chances. Finding the balance of how much responsibility to give them is a tough proposition, but so is spending big on someone not quite good enough and then rinsing and repeating every two summers.
The principle of using what you have, however, could still apply to more senior players. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry notes that, for example, Wenger has options out wide who might yet thrive through the middle.
"Olivier Giroud alone there as a natural-born striker, it is difficult because they say when he does not score, it is very difficult," Henry told Sky Sports on Friday.
"Hopefully Theo Walcott could be the answer. You have a guy who you did not think was going to play as a striker, although he has been the talk of the town for a little while, him playing as a striker."
Alexis Sanchez might have a stronger case than the often-vexing Walcott. Playing predominantly on the wing, the 26-year-old outscored Giroud last season and regularly features as a centre-forward for Chile.
Benzema? Cavani? Arsenal & Man Utd in frustrating hunt for world-class striker
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Oleh
healthandwealth
