Let's meet some strikers we've never talked about before

Yesterday, I was a bit of a Negative Nancy, doing a lot of arguing that some hyped up youngsters linked to big transfers were not actually very good. So I thought I’d switch tone today and have a look at some very fun prospects who we haven’t ever mentioned on the newsletter before.

We start with a certified Big Fella. Does your team need a striker who’s 2 meters tall? Then perhaps they should start looking into:

Tolu Arokodare — Genk

Hilariously, Arokodare isn’t that great in the air right now. He’d much rather run in behind defenders and score poachers’ efforts from inside the 6-yard box, and that’s working very well for him. He’s racking up the shot volume and xG.

Notice the distinct lack of circles with white outlines on Arokodare’s shot map. My man just isn’t scoring that many headers. But this is a pretty incredible number of high-quality shots from excellent areas, with so many between the penalty spot and the 6 that they’re on top of each other and you can hardly see them. That’s the good stuff.

I think the 24-year-old Nigerian’s ceiling is through the roof. If you’ve got a coach who can teach him how to improve at jumping and headers, you’ll have a certified monstrous all-around striker.

Troy Parrott — AZ Alkmaar

This former Tottenham Hotspur super prospect didn’t quite find his footing during the first 4 loans of his career. But he played well at Excelsior last season, catching the eye of Europa League side AZ Alkmaar. Spurs actually knocked their former academy player out of that competition, but given their injury crisis this season, they probably wish they still had him around as a backup.

Parrott is fairly athletically limited, but makes up for it with excellent work rate. He’s an effective presser, and racking up the xG with some outstanding efficiency.

Parrott’s shot volume isn’t anything massive, but he’s getting a lot of extremely high value shots, and converting the ones that commentators would refer to as sitters. He’s actually slightly underperforming his xG, though.

I suspect AZ will keep Parrott around for a bit rather than immediately trying to flip him for a profit, but they’re likely to get some calls from teams in bigger leagues this summer.

Mathias Kvistgaarden — Brondby

I am not an expert in how to evaluate Danish league stats against other leagues, but uhh, holy crap.

Kvistgaarden is a bit of a strange all-around attacker who isn’t quite a traditional No. 9. He’s probably best suited for playing a second striker role in similar style to a Wayne Rooney or Sergio Agüero. This role went out of fashion for a bit, but 3-5-2 teams could always find a place for a player like that, and Pep Guardiola seems intent on bringing it back to a 4-4-2 system with Omar Marmoush.

The shot map also reflects that Kvistgaarden is as much of a dribbler and playmaker, if not even more, than a shooter. He’s running super hot with his finishing, but his shot volume isn’t anything terribly impressive.

Kvistgaarden probably wouldn’t make sense to sign for a top 5 league team that plays 4-3-3 or a variant of it, but he’d be a great partner for an out-and-out 9 in a two-striker system.

Tawfik Bentayeb — Rodez

Behold, a guy who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Bentayeb is putting up a truly outrageous 0.79 xG p90 in Ligue 2, producing at a high level for a Rodez side that’s battling relegation.

The shot locations are looking excellent, and the volume is nice on a per 90 basis as well. Get this guy starting every match!

Shoutout to whichever Rodez scout or data analyst identified and recommended Bentayeb. I looked up his Moroccan league highlights and the standard of defending was beyond shocking. I know this sounds both very mean and like I am exaggerating, but the opposing center backs were basically passing the ball directly to him. I do not understand how someone is able to watch that footage and make an evaluation about a striker’s suitability for a high level of professional football. The person who made this talent ID is a genius.

Louis Munteanu — Cluj

Munteanu spent 4 years at Fiorentina, but never made a senior appearance for the club. After this campaign at Cluj, I think it’s pretty clear that a club of Fiorentina-like stature and budget will be making an offer for his services.

He’s the Romanian league’s leading scorer by a lot with 20 goals, ahead of a couple guys with 13. Some of that is overperforming xG, and there’s some penalty merchant stuff here as well. But this is still a nice shot chart, especially given the goals off dribbles and through balls.

Watching him, Munteanu looks like a very well-balanced striker with strength, size, and some pace to run in behind. He’s a really classic all-around 9 who could fit a lot of different tactical systems.

Manfred Ugalde — Spartak Moscow

And here’s the most complicated one of the bunch. Buying players from Russia is not exactly simple at the moment, nor is evaluating them. Even if your club is in a country that does not have strict sanctions against Russia and can complete this transaction without too much fuss, what’s the price that even gets Spartak to sell Ugalde? The market that they can buy a replacement from is extremely limited.

Anyway, this guy appears to absolutely rock.

He is overperforming his xG and it’s a bit weird that he has such a low number of medium-value shots. It’s mostly sitters and low-value stuff.

I couldn’t skip over a guy who has numbers this good at a reasonable professional level, but I also think it’s unlikely you’ll see him at a club from a top 5 league next season.

Kevin Carlos — Basel

This is a pretty cool late bloomer success story. Carlos’ career path has been: Huesca youth → Almudévar → back to Huesca B → Yverdon-Sport → Basel. He could never stick in the first team of a big pro club in his home country of Spain, but he’s finally established himself as a solid striker in Switzerland.

Generally good striker stuff here. Pressing, shot volume, xG.

And the shot map is looking nice. It’s interesting that he’s lacking the absolute highest xG chances inside the 6, though. I’d ask my scout doing the report on him if he lacks that real poacher’s instinct, or if Basel just aren’t getting a lot of square balls and deflections in that area.

Carlos has good size at 6’2”, but could stand to improve in the air. Right now, his pace and dribbling are probably better skills, and he looks like a quality shooter. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in La Liga next season.

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