Why The Most VALUABLE Players In Football Are No Longer Strikers

The days of the classic number nine striker being football's most prized asset are fading fast

Now it's the wingers, explosive, unpredictable, game-changing, who are commanding the biggest

price tags. But why? What's driving this shift in value? Today we're breaking down how modern

football has moved beyond the traditional striker, why tactical changes have turned

wingers into the real superstars, and what this says about the future of the game

now before we get on to the tactics of modern day football i thought i'd take a quick look back at

the numbers to give you an idea of one particular stat that has been changing over time well the

last 20 years or so and that is goal contributors it may seem like an obvious statement to make but

putting the ball in the back of the net is the hardest thing to do in football and therefore

the ones who can do it and do it regularly are more often than not going to be the match winners

the difference makers, and as a byproduct of that, the most valuable in the team

Back in 2005, things were pretty straightforward. Strikers were the main goal scorers, averaging

over 20 goals per season. Wingers, on the other hand, usually scored less than half of that

between 8 and 10. When it comes to assists, wingers were the main creators and as such

averaged about 5 or 6 assists per season, while strikers barely contributed with around 2 on

average. In terms of overall involvement then, strikers had the upper hand, participating in

roughly 0.7 goals per 90 minutes, whilst wingers were involved in about half as many around 0.4

Fast forward though to 2015 and the gap began to close. Strikers still averaged around 18 goals

per season, but wingers were now hitting 12 to 14 goals regularly. Assist for wingers increased

too, up to around 8 per season, whilst strikers improved slightly to 4. The overall goal involvement

numbers for wingers was now at 0.65 per 90 minutes, getting closer to the striker 0.7

This reflected a tactical evolution. Wingers started playing narrower, cutting inside to

shoot or combine with midfielders, whilst the rise of false nines and fluid front lines blurred

the traditional striking role. So to today in the 24-25 season, the story is very different

Strikers still score a strong 18 goals on average, but wingers aren't far behind with 16

The assist gap is even wider as wingers are racking up around 10, double that of strikers

at 5. When we combine goals and assists, wingers now edge out strikers with about 0.72 goal

involvements compared to 0.68 for forwards. In the modern day, we have expected goals and assists too, the data of which also confirms

that wingers have a solid expected goals figure of around 0 and expected assists of 0 showing their dual threat in scoring and creating still have a higher expected goals number with about 0 but just 0 assists In a nutshell the wingers

have become hybrid attackers, now both part creator and part finisher. But the data does

not stop there. Just as a quick snapshot for this season, here's the top five players in Europe's

top leagues when it comes to goals and assists per 90 minutes. At the very top, Mo Salah

no surprise, with a ridiculous 1.41. That means he's involved in more than one goal every full

game he plays. Right behind him is Harry Kane, a classic striker, showing he's still a top scorer

with 1.29 combined. But the rest of the top five, they're all wingers. Michael Alisse from Bayern's

at 1.25, whilst Rafinha and Vinicius Jr. both have 1.13. It's no wonder that the 2025 Ballon d'Or

contenders include several wingers instead of pure strikers. Salah, Dembele, Rafinha and Jamal

all have a worthy shout of winning it. So with this change in goal scoring and goal creating

reliance from strikers to wingers, I thought to myself, I wonder if the transfer market reflects

this? And what do you know, it does. If you look at the transfer spending over the last 20 years

in the top European leagues, the percentage of money spent on pure strikers has slowly declined

whilst the spending on wingers has risen sharply. Around 2005, 28% of the transfer spend went to

strikers with 15% on wingers. By 2025, spending on pure strikers has dropped to 24%, whilst the

wingers now take about 35% of that total spend. Think of the crazy amounts over the years spent

on Bale, Dembele, Neymar, Krautzehlea, Grealish, Hazard, even Florian Wirtz who will probably end

up as some sort of inside forward winger hybrid at Liverpool. Certainly not as a classic striker

There's been big numbers on strikers too, but no way near as much as there has been in the past

So are these spending habits indicative of just goal scoring and goal contributions

Well, to be honest, yes. But why are they scoring more? Well, here comes the tactical part where I'll do my best to break this down with some relatable examples

So to start off, traditionally, strikers were the focal point of attack, as proven in the numbers from earlier

The aim of the game was to get them in the best position to score because they were the ones who could do it

You'd often find them in formations like 4-4-2, with two strikers sharing goal-scoring duties and often forming lethal partnerships

Think Andy Cole and Dwight York combining for that goal in their new camp in the late 90s. Genius

But football tactics have changed dramatically over the past two decades. The dominant formation now is the 4-3-3, or a similar variation like a 4-2-3-1

Basically, a single striker supported by a midfield three and two wide men

This lone striker faces two centre for the majority of occasions and is often isolated outnumbered and reliant on teammates to create chances Their role has shifted from being the sole orchestrator of attacks to mainly finishing moves built elsewhere Meanwhile wingers have moved

from hugging the touchline to playing narrower and higher up the pitch, mainly due to higher

full-backs or the midfield three being able to spread themselves horizontally enough to cover

any gaps left by a far too attacking winger. They now operate in half spaces closer to goal

combining scoring with chance creation. But who do we credit with this shift in momentum

Well, I'd say there's a few major tactical turning points in the development over the winger as the star player

But before we get onto those, I obviously have to acknowledge the rise of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Basically, Messi and Ronaldo laid a whole new blueprint for a winger. Heck, a whole new player in general

Ones that could do absolutely everything to the point where getting the best out of them

and getting the ball to them wherever they were on the pitch was generally a pretty good idea

However, when we look at wingers as a whole, both then and now, those two are complete anomalies in the data

because no striker is doing what they do, nevermind any other winger

Ridiculous numbers. So in this case, I'm looking at one particular thing they were early pioneers of

and that is playing on the opposite side to their supposed stronger foot. Of course, they weren't the first to do this

but before them, very few players actually did. Both Robert Perez and Ronaldinho come to mind

but traditionally, wide players stuck to their stronger sides. Think Beckham and Giggs playing on the right and left respectively

Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find a team that doesn't have at least one inverted winger, if not two

This shift in tactics has allowed wingers to cut inside onto their stronger foot instead of their weaker one

and opened up a whole new host of potential threats to the opposition goal

They could interchange passes from nearby midfielders, find new angles to shoot from

create space for an overlapping fullback, swing crosses inwards instead of outwards, and so many other options

From here, we've really seen the likes of Iron Robin and Frank Ribéry explode onto a whole new level

This rise in goal contributions from wingers then led to a new era of striker

one who still scored plenty, but if they could also do the hard work off the ball to open up space for the wingers

it was still just as effective because the wingers could also be relied upon to score

Think of Benzema and Suarez filling those roles. Both unbelievable forwards in their own right, but far from being just goal scorers

they were unselfish workers and certainly were overshadowed in the recognition and awards

department in comparison to their more illustrious attacking partners. In fact, both were the cheapest

or least valuable in terms of market worth on paper in their respective front three, a sign of

things to come in the transfer market. But that's no disrespect. It's just the harsh truth of playing

alongside arguably two of the greatest players football has ever seen Following on from this First came Jurgen Klopp Liverpool as the front three perfectly illustrated complementary roles where the centre forward wasn even on the same level

as the goal scoring wingers. No disrespect again, Firmino was just as important

to Klopp's great team as the others. But the truth is that his role as a deep line forward

freed up Salah and Mane to move into space beyond the back line and attack the goal

from a more direct angle than out wide with regular runs from out to in

Firmino's lack of goal scoring numbers wasn't even held against him because his play was seen as necessary to allow Salah especially

to score so many goals. Which then brings us to the last few years where the importance of a striker

and their various abilities are still there whether as a goal scorer or creator but the burden of

scoring and assisting has now been spread across the front three as a whole. From a purely numbers

point of view this makes total sense just for the fact there are normally two wingers in each side

which combined with a central striker gives three attackers close to and directly attacking the box

instead of just two in a 4-4-2 formation, for example. The best teams today prove this

with Liverpool, Barcelona, PSG all having goal threats from all angles. Whereas if you look at City or Arsenal, for example

an injury or drop in form to Haaland or Saka respectively leaves them painfully exposed on the goal-scoring front

I mean, when Haaland doesn't score, he gets called a League 2 player because he doesn't seem to do much else

something that would be a little bit more unnoticed if City actually had wingers to provide goals instead

For example, in the 2021 season, they had no prolific forward, but they shared the goals around the whole team

with midfielder Ilkay Gundogan being top scorer in the Premier League with 13

Arsenal have also been crying out for a centre forward for a few years now, and whilst it helps to have one, they still need more contributions from the rest of the team

apart from just Saka. I can only see it being the sort of forward slash wingers for two reasons

Firstly, because there is a huge demand for them, not only for one, but for two in each side

as I discussed. The emphasis on modern tactics is placed on them. This basically follows the exact

same principle of 20 or so years ago, when you'd often find two strikers on whom the emphasis was

placed. So it's the same idea, but the proverbial goalposts have been moved. And secondly, because

whilst a last minute save from your goalkeeper could win you the cup or a solid defensive

partnership sets the tone for a well-coordinated backline, in a footballing world that's run more

like business with bigger and bigger transfer fees, players are going to need to have clear

valuable numbers to justify their worth and, God, I hate myself for saying this, showing themselves

as a good return on investment. Oh, God. And what's more valuable than scoring or providing

match-winning goals on a regular basis? So with all that said and done, what do you see as the

next tactical development in football and which players will be the most valuable in the years to

come? Let me know in the comments. Don't forget to subscribe with that notification bell on

And until the next one, I'll see you later