This summer will potentially see a lot of strikers on the move in the transfer market. Here, we analyse some of the individuals who are likeliest to secure big moves.
There’s a strong sense that the summer transfer window is going to be defined and dominated by the movements of a few very expensive centre-forwards.
With the window open again until September, we’ve identified the strikers worth keeping an eye on and why they’re attracting interest.
Viktor Gyökeres
Despite not playing for a club in one of the top five leagues, Viktor Gyökeres has probably been the most talked-about centre-forward in Europe over the past 12 months or so.
It’s easy to forget he was playing in the Championship as recently as 2022-23. No Premier League clubs were seemingly quite convinced enough to take a punt on him then, but Sporting CP were.
What a shrewd investment their £20 million outlay proved to be. If they sell him this summer, they’ll likely quadruple that – or get close. And given the clubs linked, such as Arsenal and Manchester United, there’s a strong possibility he will be on the move.
The Sweden international has been an unqualified success in Portugal. He’s helped Sporting to successive Primeira Liga titles for the first time since 1954, scoring 68 goals across those two seasons – no other player has more than 22 in the competition since the start of 2023-24.
More recently, he topped the goalscoring charts for 2024-25 with 39, incredibly, more than double the haul of anyone else. While his 12 penalty goals obviously boosted his output somewhat, his total of 27 non-pen goals was still 11 clear of his closest rival (Vangelis Pavlidis – 16).
But what makes Gyökeres so attractive is how much he offers his team. He scores goals, sure, but he’s an all-action centre-forward who takes the game to his opponents.
He recorded the third-most dribbles (130) in the 2024-25 Primeira Liga, while only Álvaro Carreras (132) and Nicolás Otamendi (131) – defenders who occupy less-congested areas of the pitch – bettered his 128 carries that progressed the ball at least 10 metres up the pitch.
This all translates into being able to create chances for himself, with his 50 shot-ending carries 15 more than anyone else in the league in 2024-25. But he also brings others into the game and offers creative quality, as highlighted by laying on the second-most chances in open play (60).
Benjamin Sesko
Benjamin Sesko has been on the radars of Europe’s biggest clubs for some time now.
Austria was a good proving ground for him, and his adaptation to one of Europe’s top leagues, the Bundesliga, has since been encouraging even if his goals return is somewhat modest at 27 across two seasons.
Sesko netted 13 times in 2024-25 as RB Leipzig endured their worst season since promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016, finishing seventh. But the Slovenian striker continued to show promising signs in his development.
What’s most striking about Sesko is how well-rounded he already is at the age of 22. Just shy of two metres tall, he’s huge, and yet he’s also one of the fastest strikers in the Bundesliga. Furthermore, he seems just as comfortable playing on the shoulder of the last defender as he is dropping deep and linking the play because he’s so good technically.
His broad range of qualities is notable in the goals he scores, too.
Of the 12 players with 12+ Bundesliga goals in 2024-25, only Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise scored a smaller proportion of his goals (66.7%) from inside the box than Sesko (76.9%), reflecting not only his confidence when going for goal from range but also the quality of his striking ability.
He’s also, unsurprisingly given his height, an impressive presence in the air. Of the 25 forwards to contest at least 60 aerial duels in the Bundesliga this season, Sesko had the best success rate (57.4%) – and that was made even more notable by the fact he was involved in 122 of them.
Sesko’s average of 0.31 non-penalty xG per 90 this term suggests there’s room for improvement in terms of finding goalscoring positions, as it was only good enough to see him rank 25th among all forwards (1,000+ mins).
But there aren’t many better and more accomplished 22-year-old strikers in the game. He’ll be expensive, but his potential is seemingly massive.
Benjamin Sesko vs Viktor Gyökeres
Premier LeagueBenjamin Sesko vs Viktor Gyökeres: What Would Arsenal Get From Each Striker?
2 days ago David Segar, Ali TweedaleJonathan David
Canada international Jonathan David is running down his contract at Lille, meaning he’s available on a ‘free’ transfer. Of course, in reality there’s nothing free about it; there may not be a transfer fee involved, but he’ll still likely demand a hefty sign-on fee.
Either way, he’ll likely be somewhat cheaper than if Lille were entitled to a fee, so he does represent a pretty intriguing market opportunity.
The 25-year-old joined Lille in 2020 and has been a reliable presence in front of goal pretty much ever since.
After a barren start to his first season, he finished with 13 goals in Ligue 1 as Les Dogues won the title. That ended up being his lowest tally in a single season, peaking with the 24 he got in 2022-23.
While he initially filled the role of support striker at Lille, David soon became the focal point of their attack as they looked to make the most of his adaptable strengths.
Technically strong as well as being comfortable with the physical side of the game, David is accustomed to dropping deep and holding the play up as well as being able to run in behind.
It’s in the box where he does the majority of his most notable work, however.
Since he joined Lille, 85 of David’s 87 Ligue 1 goals have been scored in the penalty area, or 97.7% of them. Among the 42 forwards to score at least 50 times across the top five leagues in that time, only seven have netted a greater proportion from inside the box.
His ability to use either foot is also worth noting, because over the same time period as above, he’s one of just six forwards from the top five leagues to score more than 25 goals with both feet (26 left, 55 right).
Whoever manages to strike a deal will be getting a talented and adaptable centre-forward entering his prime.
Gonçalo Ramos
Before 6 December 2022, Gonçalo Ramos wasn’t a name many outside of Portugal knew especially well. That all changed when Fernando Santos made the brave choice to replace Portugal’s record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo with the 21-year-old despite having just 33 minutes of international experience under his belt. And it was for a World Cup knockout match.
But Santos’ bravery paid off. Ramos scored an incredible hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Switzerland, becoming the first player to score three goals in his first World Cup start since Miroslav Klose in 2002.
The following summer, Ramos was involved in a transfer tussle, with some of Europe’s biggest clubs reported to want his signature. Paris Saint-Germain won the battle, bringing the striker in on loan from Benfica before making the move permanent in November 2023.
Considering the dominance of his club in France across his two years at the club, Ramos’ goal tally of 32 in 82 appearances for PSG has been modest. But looking only at goals wouldn’t tell the true story.
Ramos has struggled to find a regular spot in the PSG starting XI, even with Kylian Mbappé moving on to Real Madrid last summer. Only 38 of his 82 appearances have been in their starting XI, while he’s averaged just 48 minutes per appearance (including added time).
His goals per game average has been excellent in France, however, scoring every 123 minutes (again, including added time) on average – a better rate than all at PSG bar Mbappé (96 mins) across those two seasons. He’s also converted an exceptional 21.3% of his non-penalty shots into goals, which is higher than current teammates Ousmane Dembélé (18.5%), Bradley Barcola (18.7%) and Désiré Doué (19.5%).
His ability to find excellent positions to shoot helps. No player at PSG has averaged a higher non-pen xG per 90 than Ramos over the last two seasons (0.78), while he is one of only nine players from the top five European leagues to sustain an xG-per-shot average of 0.20 or higher (0.21) out of the 267 to have attempted 100+ non-pen shots in all competitions since the start of 2023-24.
There have been reports PSG are willing to listen to the right offer for Ramos this summer, with Liverpool one club who have been linked. It could be a transfer that makes sense for all parties involved.
Victor Osimhen
It’s pretty unusual that someone with the reputation of Victor Osimhen is widely regarded as being available for transfer.
His situation is a fairly peculiar one. He was one of the most-coveted strikers in Europe last summer but saw moves to the Saudi Pro League and Chelsea collapse. And yet, there was no place for him at Napoli as new coach Antonio Conte had brought Romelu Lukaku in already to replace the Nigerian.
Galatasaray pulled off a surprising coup by signing him on loan and he scored 26 times in 30 Süper Lig appearances to fire them to the title, finishing 11 points clear of Fenerbahce.
But a permanent move to Turkey looks to be out of the question. While he’ll be available far cheaper than his €130m release clause, his wage expectations are said to be huge.
So, what sort of bang will someone get for their buck?
For starters, Osimhen is pretty much the complete forward. He has the pace and timing to run in behind, the strength to hold the ball up, plus the tirelessness and aggression to harry defenders. Oh, and he’s a reliable goalscorer, with his feet and his head.
In his four seasons at Napoli, Osimhen managed at least 0.54 non-pen goals per 90 every season, and the lowest his non-pen xG went on a per-90 basis was 0.48 in 2021-22. It went as high as 0.66 in 2022-23, which puts him in the 98th percentile for most non-pen xG per 90 by forwards over a single season (1,000+ mins) during his four years in Naples.
Overall, that provides a good indication of how consistently he got himself into threatening positions.
Of course, it is also worth noting that he’s quite a high-volume shooter, meaning his average shot conversion rate across four seasons in Serie A (16.6%) isn’t particularly stunning. But his persistence is an asset, and his xG record proves he has a habit of sniffing out chances.
Hugo Ekitiké
Hugo Ekitiké’s fledgling career has already been something of a rollercoaster, with his emergence as a teenager at Reims and big-money move to Paris Saint-Germain followed by a difficult time at PSG and his subsequent resurgence at Eintracht Frankfurt.
He struggled to carve out a niche for himself among a group of talented forwards in Paris, but Eintracht have given him the patience, space and time to find himself. Their reward? Well, he played a pivotal role in securing their return to the UEFA Champions League for next season, and if they succeed in getting €100m for him, they’ll make roughly an €84m profit in just over a year.
At Eintracht, he’s thrived in a team that plays on the counter and for transitions, while he has the freedom to roam across the frontline. This allows him to play somewhat off the cuff and make the most of his technical skill and trickery, which are huge strengths of his.
He is a tall and graceful figure on the ball, but Ekitiké also possesses a surprising turn of pace for someone with his build and fairly languid demeanour, arguably one of the reasons he’s been such a good fit for Eintracht’s style of play.
There is still some doubt about how good a finisher he is, with shot selection something analysts and pundits have questioned – his 3.9 underperformance in relation to his xG across all competitions in 2024-25 was the worst record of all Bundesliga players, for instance.
However, he still netted 22 times and his xG total suggests a promising knack for finding threatening positions, which is supported by the proliferation of big red dots in the six-yard box on his xG map.
And he made a strong contribution as a creator, too. He was one of just five nominal centre-forwards to average at least 0.2 non-pen xG (0.67) and 0.2 expected assists (0.2) in the Bundesliga, tallying eight assists in the process.
Ekitiké is by no means the finished article, but that’s part of what makes him so exciting.
Thierno Barry
Thierno Barry’s professional career has had such an upward trajectory that he’s barely played more than one full season for any club before moving up to a more challenging level.
Only three years ago, Barry had completed his first season of senior football in France’s fifth tier. His performances in Sochaux’s B team earned him a trial with Belgian second-tier side Beveren, where he became even more lethal with 20 goals.
His first top-flight season came in 2023-24, when he finished as Basel’s top goalscorer with nine in a disappointing campaign for his club. After eight goals in four appearances to start 2024-25, La Liga‘s Villarreal came knocking and snapped up the France Under-21 striker for a reported €15m.
Just 10 months on, Villarreal could more than double their investment, with Everton reportedly looking to pay his €40m release clause.
The 2024-25 campaign saw Barry net 11 goals in La Liga and assist four more – only Ayoze Pérez (19) scored more goals for Villarreal in the competition last season as they ended the season in fifth place with their highest points tally in 17 years and qualifying for the Champions League.
Those 11 goals in his debut campaign saw him finish as the top-scoring player in La Liga last season while aged 22 or younger. Among the same group, only Lamine Yamal (22) and Jude Bellingham (17) posted more goal involvements than Barry.
His 6-foot-5 frame means he’s excellent at winning aerial challenges, too. None of the 20 forwards to be involved in at least 100 aerial duels last season won as great a proportion as Barry (66.7%), while four of his 11 goals came via his head.
As one of the more prolific sides from open-play crosses in the Premier League (seventh-most), Everton struggled to convert those into goals in 2024-25, scoring just three times from such situations (only Chelsea scored fewer – 2). Barry could be a player that would help them increase that tally in 2025-26, though he’s no mere heading merchant. A skilful and dynamic forward, there’s a lot to like about him.
João Pedro
Full disclosure: we might be making a slight leap in listing João Pedro among number nines as he’s more of a 10, but we don’t doubt he can play the role. Also, he looks set to leave Brighton this summer after two years at the club, with Newcastle United and Chelsea the front-runners to snap him up.
Despite his 17 competitive goal involvements (10 goals, 7 assists) being more than any other player at Brighton in 2024-25, the Brazilian forward had some disciplinary issues that reportedly soured his relationship with Seagulls boss Fabian Hürzeler.
A red card for violent conduct in the 4-2 defeat at Brentford on 19 April was his last game. He was suspended for three matches before being left out of the Brighton side for their final two games of 2024-25.
A reported training ground incident with Brighton’s player of the season Jan Paul van Hecke followed his dismissal against the Bees, while he was also lucky to escape a red card earlier in the season for a wild elbow in December’s meeting with the same opposition.
Nevertheless, the 23-year-old has shown enough potential in two years at Brighton since signing from Watford to suggest he could be a future star.
He’s recorded nearly twice as many goal involvements in all competitions (40) as any other Brighton player since his debut in August 2023, 17 ahead of Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck (23), while only Mitoma (78) created more chances than him (75).
Across his two seasons at Brighton, only Pascal Groß (6.0) averaged more open-play attacking sequence involvements than the Brazilian (5.4) on a per-90 basis when considering those to have played at least 3,200 minutes in all competitions.
Having a consistently strong penalty taker is important, and João Pedro is one of the best in the Premier League right now. He’s converted 15 of his 16 taken in all competitions (excluding shootouts) in two seasons at Brighton, with only Mohamed Salah (18) scoring more.
Of players across the top five European leagues to have taken as many as 15 spot-kicks outside of shootouts since the start of 2023-24, only Harry Kane (100% – 21/21) and Hakan Çalhanoglu (95% – 19/20) have better success rates from the spot than João Pedro.
He’s such a tricky player in the opposition’s box that he is also the best Premier League player at winning penalties. His nine penalties won since signing for Brighton is the most of any Premier League player across all competitions, one more than potential future teammate Anthony Gordon.
Rodrigo Muniz
Granted, Rodrigo Muniz might be a somewhat under-the-radar inclusion here, but with good reason.
His situation at Fulham is a little murky. He spent most of 2024-25 playing second fiddle to Raúl Jiménez, but ended the campaign with a pretty impressive record.
Eight goals from a back-up striker who only started eight Premier League games is commendable. And none of them were penalties, meaning his record of 0.76 non-penalty goals per game was the best in the division among players to play at least 810 minutes. Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland were next best (both 0.62).
Although he did overperform in relation to his xG, Muniz’s non-pen xG per 90 of 0.55 was still up there with the very best in the Premier League, behind only Haaland (0.62), Diogo Jota (0.6), Yoane Wissa (0.57) and Isak (0.56). This speaks to his ability to get into promising goalscoring positions.
Similarly, among players to attempt at least 35 shots, only nine finished the season with a better conversion rate than Muniz (20.5%), sitting higher than Haaland (20.4%), Jean-Philippe Mateta (20%), Ollie Watkins (19.1%) and Liam Delap (17.7%), among others.
While Fulham are apparently not looking to sell Muniz this summer, having reportedly rejected a £32m offer from Leeds, it would be understandable if the 24-year-old fancied moving to guarantee first-team football.
And although he can’t be considered “cheap”, Muniz would come cheaper than the majority of players on this list.
He may not have quite the same name recognition as the others, but he’s showing considerable potential.
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