Over a 24-year-long career, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the face of Swedish football and the epitome of what young strikers should look up to. An attacking ability which was up there with the very best in the World combined with an astounding ooze of confidence made Zlatan the ultimate warrior. He is one of the very few players who can say he performed at the highest level wherever he went, but in pretty much every major footballing league in Europe (missing out only on the German Bundesliga). Since his retirement in 2023, there has been a new wave of strikers stepping up to take his mantle. The main and obvious candidate is Manchester City’s Erling Haaland who has been a goal-scoring robot, breaking records and pretty much being unstoppable. He is the rightful candidate and is recognised around the globe as the best striker in the World. However, from a Swedish point of view, their footballing throne has already been filled by a pair of princes who have stepped up to take King Zlatan's crown. This pair being of course Alexander Isak of Newcastle and Viktor Gyökeres of Sporting Lisbon. The pair took a while took a while to get firing but now are hailed as some of the best in Europe who are making a serious case of replacing Ibrahimovic in the aggregate.
Viktor Gyökeres is a 26-year-old striker who currently plays for Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon. He started his career with Swedish side IF Brommapojkarna where he spent a season with the Swedish second division before promotion and Gyökeres could really strut his stuff. He played 56 league games for the side, scoring 20 goals in the process which instantly caught the attention of Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion.
However, his £1 million move didn’t go as expected as over his 3 years with the club, made a grand total of 0 league appearances. During those 3 years, Viktor has loan deals with St. Pauli in Bundesliga 2, Swansea in the Championship and Coventry in the Championship. During his time with Coventry, he seemingly made enough of an impact to earn a permanent transfer for £1.2 million and was subsequently given the opportunity to lead the line. Coventry was where Gyökeres could showcase his talent and with 43 goals and 17 assists in 116 appearances, he did not disappoint. He got himself onto a lot of Premier League clubs’ radars but ultimately made a move to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal for a club record fee of £20 million. Since his move to Sporting, he has scored 55 goals and registered 18 assists in as little as 61 games. This includes 6 goals and 2 assists in 11 appearances in European competition. During the 24/25 especially he has made himself known with 11 goals in 8 appearances which has put him up there as one of the most in-form players in the World.
Alexander Isak is a player who was always hailed as being great and full of potential but never really showcased his talents on the main stage. However, this may be due to never really being given the opportunity at the top level. The 25-year-old began his career with Swedish side AIK where he started strong with 13 goals in 29 games. This then earned him a £9 million move to Borussia Dortmund in Germany but like Gyökeres, his first big move
never really took off for him. He only managed 1 goal in 13 appearances, in 2 seasons before securing a loan move to Dutch side Willem II. This period was far better with 14 goals and 7 assists in 18 games rightfully earning Alex a £15 million move to Spanish side Real Sociedad. During his time with the La Liga side, he managed 44 goals and 8 assists in 132 appearances which also gave him the opportunity with the Swedish National team. Having impressed during the 2020 – 2022 season and 2020 Euro’s, Newcastle United deemed Isak the player they wanted to lead the new era front line and paid a whopping £70 million for the striker. This was a record fee paid by the Magpies as well as a first showcase of what their new Saudi Arabian ownership could do. But Alexander Isak has lived up to that price tag with 36 goals and 4 assists in 73 games over the 2 and a bit season he has been with Newcastle. During this time, he helped Newcastle to Champions League qualification and became a true fan favourite with the Toon Army.
Both strikers have very different signature styles of play but what they do have in common is their versatility. Not necessarily position-wise, but in how they can adapt to other game plans whilst still being influential in the game. For example, although Gyökeres plays best on the shoulder of the defender and runs onto the end of through balls, if he was asked to drop deeper and give the wingers the option to get higher, this is something he can still excel at. The ability for both players to be able to adapt and play both sides of a striker’s game makes them a lethal duo upfront for Sweden. In the 6 games for Sweden where both attackers have started the game, the duo have scored 10 goals between them, highlighting just how well the pair work together. Their styles bounce off each other effortlessly making every defence they play worried. When looking at the 2 most recent games for Sweden where they combined for 6 goals, we can see just how they each set up. As seen via the heatmaps
attached, Gyökeres plays much of his game in the final third with a far more offensively-minded role. Whereas Isak prefers to drop deeper to pick up the ball and drive with it. Gyökeres can often be seen becoming the hold-up man when long balls are played, giving Isak the opportunity to make space for himself and wait to receive the ball in a dangerous area. This not only drags a defender away from Isak but also drops the line deeper to prevent him from being caught out in a possible offside trap. An underrated statistic from these games is the key passes each made. In the game vs Estonia, Gyökeres made 3 and Isak made 4 portraying the creative ability each player also has. Even in the match vs Azerbaijan, Gyökeres made 5 and Isak made 1, and in Gyökeres’ 5 key passes, he also produced 2 assists, each of which was direct to Isak. Their link-up play can be the best in the business for many years to come and
even push Sweden far in future tournaments. This possibility is exaggerated even more by the creative players that Sweden has behind the 2 frontmen. I am of course referring to Tottenham Hotspur's Dejan Kulusevski and Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga. These creative wingers will create a plethora of chances for the attackers and help them in their mission to replace the monster that was Zlatan. Kulusevski alone averages 2.3 key passes per game in Swedish competitive matches (such as qualifiers and the Nations League) and Elanga in his first full season with Nottingham Forest registered 9 assists in only 25 starts. These 2 wingers have a hefty potential between them which will only benefit the 2 frontmen in the long run.
I believe there is a strong correlation between shots taken and match results. Others believe that you should focus on conversion rates and the quality of chances created however I beg to differ. I believe it is more about the volume of chances created and the volume of shots taken. A low conversion rate does mean a player is unsuccessful, especially if they are averaging say 4 shots per game but only getting a goal every 8 shots for example. This is a conversion rate of only 12.5% but it is still a goal-scoring ratio of 1 in 2 which is the mark of
a top striker. Now with all this being said, Gyökeres’ conversion rate is nothing to be passed over at 28% for the 24/25 season. This is mental considering his average of 5 shots per game with 2.6 of these being on target. Looking at his shot map we can see just how consistent he is at getting shots off inside the penalty area. 32 of his 34 shots in the league this season have been taken inside the penalty box showcasing the presence he has but also his willingness to get a shot off. He is not scared to try his look at goal no matter the difficulty of the chance which leans even further into the idea of ‘shoot enough, eventually one will in.’ If he is to keep up his current momentum of shots per game, he can end this season on around 50 goals which would certainly get him a move to one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Isak however does not lean into the same game plan as Gyökeres in terms of shooting no matter what and chooses to wait for a key opportunity. Isak can often be willing to make the extra pass and lay it off to one of his teammates. This is not a negative but rather a portrayal of footballing intellect and confidence in one’s ability to make the correct choice. This is demonstrated by his average of 2.63 progressive passes per 90 during his time with Newcastle which puts him in the 80th percentile compared to all other forwards. He is one of the technically best strikers out there and will be one of the best in Europe for many years to come.
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