'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.

Lazar Markovic: quick as Messi, crafty as Zlatan

The player we have latest been linked to is Benfica and Serbian winger/striker Lazar Markovic.  He is 20-years-old, 175cm (5'9"), lightning quick, and has a skill set that reminds me of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

For some reason finding statistics for Liga Sagres is very difficult, even if I spoke Portuguese.  I won't even get into stats from the Serbian SuperLiga, if anything more than superficial exist.  Here's what I could throw together:

app (sub)	96
mins	6318
goals	19
assists	18
chances	7*
npg90	0.27
gcp90	0.53
ccp90	0.88*
pass	316**
att	398**
pass %	79.4*
bp %	60.6*
sacc %	50*
shot %	12.5**
TTI90	9**

* stats are only from European matches in 2013-14 for Benfica

** stats are from European matches in 2012-13 for Partizan Belgrade & 2013-14 for Benfica

Overall, not that impressive, but he does show flashes of brilliance and he did just turn 20 in March.  He also tends to command influence in his performances as shown in this video:

Is he worth the £25m though? Potentially yes, but it's quite risky.  He's an exciting player with a decade of football ahead of him.  Statistically, he doesn't blow anyone away, especially his back pass percentage, but he does create a goal every other match.

I'm not one who advocates spending that kind of cash for a potential superstar, but I'm on the fence with Markovic.  There's just something about him that makes me think he's going to be quite special in a few years and it would be a shame if Liverpool lost out.