Isak, Gyokeres and Ekitike herald a new age of the centre-forward

After years spent in striker-less formations, the Premier League’s top teams are seemingly all set to rely on a big body (or two) up top

Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike are part of a new wave of Premier League strikers.

It’s only been a decade since it seemed the centre-forward was being refined out of existence. Spain had won Euro 2012 with Cesc Fabregas as a false nine, and Germany, who largely took Spain as a model, were less than convinced they needed one at the 2014 World Cup. 

They fielded Thomas Muller as a false-ish nine until the quarter-final, when Jogi Löw finally went back to basics and turned to Miroslav Klose. That he was 36 only seemed to confirm that the old-fashioned No 9 was an old-fashioned phenomenon — a dying breed. Yet this summer, the main interest in the transfer market has been the carousel of strikers.