Ranking of the 10 best forwards in world football in 2023

Let’s take a look at the top 10 strikers in the game, focusing on forwards and wingers whose main role is to score goals and create assists to win their team’s games. Many of these players are forwards and cutting wingers, as these positions have the greatest impact on the score in the modern game.

10. Christopher Nkunku

Christopher Nkunku is headed to Chelsea for the 2023/24 season after being the Bundesliga’s best player over the past three seasons. In 2020, Chelsea bought Timo Werner from Leipzig Red Bull after his career ended, but sent him back to the Bundesliga in 2022. Werner’s outburst is largely due to the underrated genius of Nkunku as Leipzig’s main creator. With Werner gone, Nkunku has emerged as the main goal scorer and creator and a legitimate candidate for the Ballon d’Or for the 2021/22 season.

As such, Chelsea may have gotten Leipzig’s real gem, and someone more in line with their needs, in a roundabout way. Nkunku has a knack for performing in the games that matter the most, such as his last two DFB-Pokal victories. Despite being one of the best all-around strikers in European football over the past four seasons, the Frenchman is still only 25 years old. In two of those seasons he had more than 12 assists and more than 15 goals.

9. Victor Osimhen

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen emerged as one of Europe’s most talented rising star strikers during his 2019/20 spell with Lille before moving to Napoli after a few seasons. Injuries slowed Osimhen’s career somewhat at the start of his career at Napoli, but anyone who watches Serie A on a weekly basis can tell there is something special about the Nigerian. He just needs another star around him on offense so he can really explode.

Fortunately, Napoli invested in the most sought-after young player in Serie A, a Georgian winger named Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The dynamic duo led Napoli to their first Serie A title since Diego Armando Maradona’s debut in the romantic Italian city. Osimhen has cemented himself as one of the best strikers in the world, scoring 26 goals and providing four assists to become football’s leading scorer.

Now, Osmhen is the subject of intense transfer speculation that could cost the team up to €150m as the enigmatic Aurelio De Laurentiis knows the 24-year-old striker clearly value in the transfer market.

8. Hevicha Kvaratsheria

Osimhen may be the most expensive player on the transfer market, but Hvica Kvaratshelia was the most valuable player in Serie A last season and Napoli’s No. do everything.

From the moment he stepped foot in Napoli, Kvaratsheria looked like the best player in Serie A, bewitching defenders and inspiring the home crowd with his explosive dribbling. Kevara is a true two-footed winger who can spread the width and cross with his left foot, cut inside and score a Lorenzo Insigne-style curve ball with his right hand, or pass the ball from both sides in an instant. Moved from foot to foot to complete a wonderful individual goal in the penalty area.

Kvaratskhelia is a 22-year-old with the leadership qualities of a 32-year-old. He played as if Napoli were his own true love, and since his style of play awakened football romanticism in all of us, it will be very special to see him as a one-club man. However, Kvaratsheria’s skills are so unique and game-changing that every top club wants him. Real Madrid already had Rodrygo Gos and Vinicius Junior on their flanks, but Kevara really adored the club as a kid.

7. Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah is one of the most prolific players in Premier League history. The Egyptian icon scored 32 goals and provided 10 assists in his first season with Liverpool in 2017/18. Just last season, Salah reached double figures for goals and assists in a single league season for the fifth time in his illustrious career.

Despite 2022/23 being viewed as a poor year by Salah’s lofty standards, the 2021/22 Ballon d’Or candidate still has 19 goals and 12 assists, completing 1.7 per game Key passes and 1.3 dribbles. Without Salah’s outstanding performances in the final third, Liverpool may not have qualified for the 2023/24 European football season at all.

Without a stable midfield structure, Salah has to develop more on the ball and create more chances for other forwards, especially with more center forwards like Darwin Nunes and Cody Gakpo When a player joins an attack. Salah, 31, is one of the most in-form players in football and, let’s be honest, he is as strong as ever. The world’s top left-footed winger is showing no signs of declining physically.

6. Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski has surprised some fans by deciding to forego his consistent record-breaking run in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich as he looks to take on the challenge of becoming a central player for Barcelona in La Liga. The Spanish top flight is known for its physical defense, which poses a varying degree of challenge to forwards. Furthermore, Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga for a decade, while Barcelona have been seeking their first league title since 2018/19.

There is no question that Lewandowski has had an exhilaratingly successful first season at Barcelona. The Poland international led the league with 23 goals and reminded fans around the world that he is also one of the best all-around strikers in football history. Lewandowski averaged 7 assists and 1.4 fouls per game. 1.1 key passes per game.

In addition to the important goal in the 1-0 game that was crucial for Barcelona to win La Liga, Lewandowski also lifted the Red and Blues by becoming a reference point for other attackers. He had some world-class synergy with Pedri and scored goals, and he was brave when he held the ball in the box and waited to pass it to other forwards in the box. With better performances in 2023/24, Lewandowski should score more goals in his second season at Barcelona.

5. Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann has dominated Spanish football as La Liga’s best player for 2022/23 after Atletico Madrid and Barcelona settled a contract issue that kept the world-class Frenchman from making any real starts at the start of the season.

Griezmann nearly lifted Atletico into second place in the league, but they ended up just one point behind rivals Real Madrid. The pink-haired left-footer creates moments of magic that no one else in La Liga can match, especially when he picks out passes in transition or over the top. Griezmann’s insight into the pass-killer is perhaps only surpassed by Manchester City maestro Kevin De Bruyne.

Griezmann, arguably one of the most disrespected superstars of the past decade, reemerged in an Atletico reunion in one of La Liga’s best storylines. He finished the 2022/23 season averaging 15 goals, 16 assists and 2.2 key passes per game. These are staggering statistics.

4. Harry Kane

Harry Kane is the best all-around striker in football today, with Karim Benzema finishing his career at the highest level after an injury-plagued 2022/23 season. The Tottenham superstar is arguably the best player in the Premier League given his problems in the starting XI and his ability to influence every stage of the game, including dropping deep to win possession.

Last season, Kane scored 30 goals for a Tottenham team that did not even qualify for the divisional league. Many of these goals were brilliant individual goals from scratch, demonstrating the absolute highest level of skill in the striker position in world football today.

Additionally, Kane averaged 1.5 key passes per game and despite his relatively low assist numbers, he provided excellent creativity and possession, largely due to the poor performances of those around him. It will be interesting to watch the synergy between him and new signing James Maddison.

3. Vinicius Junior

Any one of the top three players has a reason to be No. 1, and what Vinicius Junior has achieved over the past few seasons as Real Madrid’s new No. 1 star is certainly impressive. Frustratingly, in the face of rampant racism, Pooh is still the best player in his position in La Liga, and has been the best player in Europe since Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe last season. Still the best player. .

Pooh dominated the game on his own, taking full responsibility for Real Madrid’s main mover, creator of the final third and even, in the case of Benzema injured, goal scorer. Following his Ballon d’Or breakthrough in 2021/22, the modern-day Brazilian icon has 10 goals and nine assists in La Liga and seven for Los Merengues in the 2022/23 Champions League. and 5 assists.

You wonder what Pooh’s numbers would have looked like had Benzema been fully fit or the attacking situation had been better, as the 22-year-old has often faced doubles and even triples. But it’s a testament to Pooh’s resilience and uncanny ability to create clear opportunities out of thin air.

2. Erling Harland

No player in world football has been more dominant in 2022/23 than Erling Haaland, who has done what he has to do to guide City through the Champions League. Elsewhere, City continued to dominate the Premier League, overcoming a deficit at the top of the table to beat up-and-coming Arsenal. Imagine people having the audacity to say signing Haaland made City worse!

The former Borussia Dortmund and Salzburg star enjoyed a hugely successful first season at his father’s old club, breaking a Premier League record with a staggering 36 goals and getting more and more powerful. As the season continued, Guardiola learned how to make the most of Haaland’s unique skills in a tried and tested tactical scheme.

Haaland wasn’t just a goal scorer (he received ridiculous criticism from jealous rival fans), he also contributed eight assists. His ability to do more with less makes him an efficient scorer and creator. Even at Dortmund, he was adept at finding his team-mates with a slight flick, using the same ability to read the game and drift into open spaces to help his team-mates.

1. Kylian Mbappe

As the best player in world football today, Kylian Mbappe could put up far better numbers if he didn’t have to soften his relentless attacking style to accommodate veterans Neymar and Lionel Messi. But more importantly, Mbappe is hampered by a poorly structured team with big problems in midfield and centre-back, which seriously damages PSG’s defensive structure, overall stability in possession And the creation at the deepest stage of organization.

After failing to make the necessary upgrades in these areas during the summer transfer window, you can see why Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid has been rumored to be heating up again. You wonder why Mbappe chose to stay in Paris in the first place.

Despite these problems, Mbappe’s 2022/23 season still deserves warm praise for his fine form and individual statistics, including a memorable World Cup in which he narrowly brought France back from the dead in the final against Lionel Messi and Argentina. .

Mbappe scored 29 goals and sent 5 assists for Paris Saint-Germain last season, averaging 3.4 dribbles and fouls per game, and 1.6 key passes. His combination of off-ball movement and forward play was the best of his career as he added new layers to his game in terms of ‘soft’ skills, helping PSG win games. Even though he is seen as a selfish striker, he does put his team first, which is unfair. But he is at his best when he plays like his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, dominating attacking areas as the team’s main goal scorer.