5 world-class players who need to score more goals
Talent isn't everything in football. For talent to translate into results on the football pitch, it needs to be complemented by hard work, intelligence, resilience and composure. These are roughly the factors that need to come together for a player to be performing at his best.
Teams that hope to mount title challenges will find it hard to go the distance without proven goalscorers. They need reliable marksmen who will make the most of the opportunities and can even feed off the scraps. That's why strikers need to be sharp, intelligent and clinical in their ways.
Keeping up with the rigors of professional football is quite a task. It is then no surprise that players occasionally suffer from a dip in form. When forwards are struggling to find their rhythm, their contributions to the goalscoring department will start to dwindle.
On that note, let's take a look at five world-class players who need to score more goals.
#5 Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)
The good thing for Manchester City is that Pep has developed his team into a unit that can function at the highest level without an out-and-out striker. For a club that has benefitted from the services of a world-class striker like Sergio Aguero for a decade, that's quite a shift.
The initial plan was for another South American to take up the mantle after Aguero. However, that man, Gabriel Jesus, has not delivered and questions are now being asked of his goalscoring ability. Since scoring 23 goals and providing 14 assists in 53 appearances across all competitions in the 2019-20 season, Jesus' returns have dropped off.
He scored just 14 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions in the 2020-21 season. If you've seen Manchester City go about their business on the field, you'd know that they don't suffer from a shortage of chances. Jesus will need to up his goalscoring rate or Manchester City will have no qualms moving forward without him.
#4 Anthony Martial (Manchester United)
Manchester United's mercurial forward Anthony Martial just cannot seem to have two good seasons on the trot. He'll look world-class in one and look thoroughly ordinary in the next.
Following Romelu Lukaku's departure, Solskjaer trusted Martial to lead Manchester United's line. He repaid the faith the manager placed in him, scoring 23 goals and providing 12 assists in 48 appearances across all competitions in the 2019-20 season.
But he was a shadow of his former shelf in the 2020-21 season. He scored just seven goals in 36 appearances across all competitions this past season. The 25-year-old struggled for form and looked off-pace and fell below Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood in the pecking order.
After six seasons of flash and fade, it looks like the 2021-22 season could really decide Martial's future at Manchester United. He needs to step up and deliver now.