Mom: "We Have Lukaku at Home..." - Cheaper Striker Options
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Romelu Lukaku was always a big boy.
Just ask his opponents in under 15s.
The Belgian striker has been in and out of vogue throughout his career - at the moment though, Lukaku is hot on everyone’s lips after balling the fuck out for Inter this season and winning the scudetto.
I saw in an article this week that Lukaku was practicing his first touch (which was never as bad as the memes would have you believe) by having Conte use a machine to launch balls at his feet at 40kmph.
And who said that coaching doesn’t happen in the pros….
I’ll tell you what, if I had Conte screaming at me and launching soccer balls at me at 40kmph, I’d improve too. If nothing else, out of fear alone.
Fuck that…
Anyway, now Lukaku is bang in form, everyone wants a big striker.
Ideally, everyone would have a Lukaku - But there’s only one…. Well, technically Romelu Lukaku’s brother, Jordan Lukaku exists - but he’s a left-back.
In this article, we’ll look at some budget options for those clubs.
First, A Look at Romelu Lukaku
For this, we’ll be looking at SmarterScout’s algorithms that break down a player’s impact (how good they are at something) along with their style (how frequently they attempt an action on the pitch).
Both of these sets of numbers are on a 0-99 ranking, and we’ll be comparing Lukaku’s numbers to some other options.
For starters, here are Lukaku’s style numbers.
You can see that, Romelu Lukaku receives the ball in the box a lot, and has strong link-up passing, dribbling, and shooting.
A top class to-feet target man.
And if we look at his impact metrics (adjusted to Premier League standard), we see an elite attacking contributor who is an active defender and holds up the ball.
That 87 attacking output is impressive.
The Main Option: Donyell Malen
Donyell Malen is a young Dutch forward playing at PSV, who has recently been linked to Liverpool, according to Voetbal International.
But you know what the rumor mill is like these days, only a small percentage of what gets reported actually happens.
Here’s how Malen’s underlying numbers rack up against other top players in his position.
If we compare Malen’s style numbers to Lukaku’s we can see a few key similarities.
Rather than the big ball-at-your-feet guy, Malen is more of a quick forward that makes smart runs, creating space for himself (and teammates).
So you could say that this isn’t an exact like-for-like, but hey… if there was a guy who was just as good as Lukaku and played exactly the same way…. well, then, he would probably be just as expensive.
With that in mind, here are how Malen’s numbers might translate to Premier League standard using SmarterScout.
Here we see a player that’s great at keeping possession, a smart defender, and someone who is a great attacking option.
Donyell Malen really intrigues me as an option - and I think there’s a great chance that he’ll do some great things.
Arsenal also sold him for 500k. LOL.
Other Options
Because I literally can’t have these newsletters be too large file-wise, I’ll keep these last two options pretty quick.
Grejohn Kyei
Here’s a deep cut for you.
Kyei is currently doing his thing in Switzerland - after not really finding his feet in France.
This season though, he’s doing really well. Scoring about a goal every two games, and going at 0.67 Goals and Assists per 90.
If we look at his style numbers, we can see some similarities with Lukaku.
And, it’s not like his numbers translate poorly to the Premier League. According to SmarterScout, Kyei is a great cheap option.
An above average attacking option who is a very active defender and can help keep the ball.
Sounds good - sign me up.
Alerrandro
Young.
Brazilian.
And numbers that translate to the Premier League like this….
I’m interested.
Looking at his style numbers, he is less of a dribbler, but likes to get involved in the short link-up passing.
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