Three 'lesser known' strikers who could help us win the Prem

Aritz Aduriz
Yes, Aduriz is 33 and has never played out of Spain, but I never claimed to be 'realistic' about these possible signings, they are 'wishful thinking' at best.  He is coming off a career year though, in fact, three of the last four seasons have been the best for the Bilbao striker.  His 16 goals and 8 assists last season means he created nearly a goal every 90 minutes and his chance created value of 0.258 is simply mind-bottling.

He does have a few negatives though, first and foremost he posted a ridiculously bad 61.5% pass success percentage last season.  It was a career low and most players usually improve their passing stats as they get older.  He also lack pace which should be no surprise considering his age, but we have Sturridge and Sterling so we don't necessarily need more speed.

Dario Cvitanich
Another Argentine striker, Cvitanich had a very impressive season the year before last with 19 goals and 2 assists in just 29 matches, giving him a goal created per 90 of 0.81 or 4 goals every 5 matches.  The Nice striker 'fell off the pace' last year only netting 8 times in 31 appearances, but may have regained his form with a brace today in the opening Ligue 1 match for Nice against Toulouse.  Cvitanich is a great finisher, especially outside of the box.  Here's a taste of what he could offer:

Stefan Kießling

Kießling is probably the best esoteric striker in Germany.  How can a player who has scored 84 goals and posted a 0.75 goals created per 90 min average in the past five seasons in the Bundesliga be so uncoveted?  He may only be 1.91 m (6'3"), but it's as if he's the Peter Crouch of German football.  His inconsistency may be one reason, the Lichtenfels native has been up and down his whole career, for example posting 25, 7, 16, 25, and 15 goals the past five seasons.  His passing is subpar as well with a career percentage of 69.1%.

The most impressive thing about Kießling is his magic skills, how he got this goal to be counted is still a revelation:

'Forgotten' French striker may be able to fill Remy void

Kevin Gameiro, as it would seem, has had a career of ups-and-downs, but the truth is, he's been consistently productive.  When the French striker transferred from Lorient to PSG in the summer of 2011, he gave up a starting spot to be a squad player, which is admirable and earned him a Ligue 1 title, but also stunted his development.  At 23, he was coming off his most productive season: 22 goals, 0.70 goals created per 90 minutes, and 1.57 chances created per 90 minutes.

His first season in Paris, could probably be labeled a 'failure'. He posted the second lowest non-penalty goals created of that point in his career and lowest since at 0.40 per 90 minutes and his career low of -0.21 goals on pitch difference.  He showed he wasn't ready to be the starting striker on a league contender and Zlatan Ibrahimović was brought in to take over that spot.  Despite being relegated to the bench, Gameiro got better and put up impressive numbers for what little time he saw the pitch.

In the 2012-13 season, Gameiro became a super-sub, producing much of the best per 90 and percentage stats of his career:

npg90	gc90	gc90	pass%	cr%	sacc%	gopd
0.82	0.92	0.92	84.9	30.8	65.52	0.72

A mutual parting, found him in Sevilla, partnered with the likes of Carlos Bacca, Jose Antonio Reyes, Ivan Ratikic, and Vitolo.  Last season, his first with the Andalusian club, he appeared to return to his all-round attacking form that he seemed to lose at PSG.  He posted nearly as many chances created in one season than he did in two at the French club (28 to 30) and his overall stats improved, including a career low in turnovers:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.62	0.14	0.86	1.33	0.107	78.22%	53.70%	24.07%	10.24

Gameiro showed he could do what he did in his limited final season in Paris, for a whole season in Spain.  He is coming into his prime, just turning 27 and finally looks ready to be a major contributor for a contender.  He may not have the ability of a Suarez, but he's certainly better than an Antoine Griezmann. Here are his stats from last year:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.54	0.1	0.64	1.15	8.7	77.20%	47.70%	14.40%	10.9

Gameiro bettered him in every single stat and Griezmann arguably had a better supporting side.

Rising French star to 'replace' Suarez

Alexandre Lacazette is a 23-year-old forward who plays for Lyon in Ligue 1 and the France national football team.  He's got great ball skills, passing vision, and is a solid finisher.  Last season he came into his own, netting 15 goals in 36 appearances.  Here is his output from that campaign:

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.47	0.56	1.27	0.09	7.3
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
77.3	52.9	47.6	17.9	11.2
gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd90
1.58	1.09	0.49	0.32	0.17

At first glance, that chance created value is dismal.  It basically means he is not setting up his teammates with good looks at goal or his teammates take bad shots or they are horrible finishers.  The fact that his teammates took 51% of their shots outside of the box leads me to believe answer number two is most likely why his ccv was so poor.  Still, it's an area in need of improvement.

His passing could see some development as well, a 52.9% back pass percentage tells me that his 77.3% passing rate is misleading, but at least he isn't turning over the ball at an obscene rate.  An 11.2 true turnover index is about what Sterling and Coutinho post.

There are other positives, he is only 23 and will only probably only cost about £16m.  I don't know if we necessarily need him though and maybe another year at Lyon would be best for all.  If he can improve on last season and score 20+ goals, he probably won't go up in value more than £25m, but he'll be a proven talent, not just a flash in the pan. A 'replacement' for Suarez though? I think not.

Here is a video of him that shows his fancy footwork. 

Griezmann to replace Suarez? That's mental!

Antoine Griezmann, the 23-year-old French International who did little to nothing in the World Cup, has made it known that he wants out of Real Sociedad.  Hopefully Rodgers will be smart and ignore him.  While France scored 8 goals in Brazil, Griezmann was on the pitch for 299 minutes and couldn't even manage an assist.

As for his efforts with Real Sociedad, the Frenchman benefits greatly from having Carlos Vela as a teammate.  In fact, Vela should be the player we go after.  How great would that be?  Bringing on the former Gunner to stick it to Arsene over the Sanchez debacle.

	Griezmann	Vela	Suarez
app(subs)	31(4)	35(2)	33
mins	2652	3104	2962
p90	29.5	34.5	32.9
goals	16	16	31
assist	3	12	12
chances	34	78	87
npgp90	0.54	0.41	0.94
gcp90	0.64	0.81	1.3
ccp90	1.15	2.26	2.6
ap90	0.1	0.35	0.37
ccv	8.7	15.4	14.2
pass%	77.2	78.7	74.8
bp%	46.6	42.9	44.1
sacc%	47.7	41.9	44.8
shot%	14.4	18.6	17.1
TTI90	10.9	11.2	17
gap90	1.49	1.48	1.43
gsp90	1.53	1.65	2.92
gop90	0.04	0.17	1.49
tgop	0.18	0.18	1.32

As you can see from the stats above, Vela was much more valuable to Sociedad than Griezmann.  The Frenchman's stats aren't necessarily bad, even though 34 chances created is pretty poor, but they pale in comparison to his Mexican teammate.  Griezmann is a poacher and not much else, Vela is the more complete player.

I'm not sure why Arsenal let Vela go, they never really gave him a chance to begin with.  In 6 years with the Gunners, he only appeared in 62 matches and was loaned out 3 times.  He hardly started either, accumulating 1051 minutes in 37 league appearances.  The only thing that would worry me is price, if Sociedad think they can get £20m for Griezmann, they are going to want Man United money for Vela.

The goal Andriy Voronin scored for the Ukraine today

Nothing spectacular, but our only player to manage to score today. Oh yeah, there's a commercial before hand? Cheers.

Who is Bernard Mendy? (video)

Another player Rafa is reportedly looking at is Paris St. Germain right wing-back Bernard Mendy. The 26-year-old scarcely called-up French international has some stunning pace and athletic ability. Here's him making Roberto Carlos look stupid, which would have been more impressive 10 years ago.


And here's an impressive goal against AEK Athens.

But splendide de Bernard mendy (aek-psg)
Uploaded by CormegaParisii

We could definitely use him and reports are that he's rated at just £3m.

Who is Jérémy Menez? (video)

Here's a video of the 20-year-old French striker/attacking midfielder who plays for Monaco that we're supposedly looking to sign in the January window. (mind the music)