This summer, the transfer market is witnessing the wave of blockbuster deals around the strikers. Many top clubs have actively hunted a true “number 9” to enhance the squad, and the Premier League teams did not hesitate to spend on new strikers.
While the biggest deal can occur in the end of the summer, when Newcastle's Alexander Isak was contacted with a transferred record in the Premier League to Liverpool, Liverpool itself, Arsenal and Chelsea soon poured out to recruit strikers.
Liverpool signed a contract with Hugo Ekitike from Frankfurt, Arsenal brought back the “scoring” Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon, while Chelsea chose Liam Delap – the center of Ipswich. But who of them will be the most successful? Which team has performed the best deal?
First of all, look at the most important criterion for a striker: goals.
When looking back last season and summarizing the number of goals scored for both the club and the national team, there was a superior name. Gyokeres scored 54 goals for Sporting and Sweden in the 2024/25 season – no player in Europe's top 10 leagues.
Ekitike scored 22 goals, and Delap was only 12. However, it should be noted that Gyokeres goals come from lower -ranking tournaments in the European football system.
Switch to statistics to contribute goals (goals + assists) in top tournaments (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) in the career of each player, the situation changes.
Gyokeres has never played, scored or created in any top tournament. Meanwhile, Delap has 14 contributions to the goals in these tournaments – all from last season in the Ipswich shirt in the Premier League. Ekitike is the leader in this category, with 50 contributions to the goal in Ligue 1 and Bundesliga, in PSG and Frankfurt shirts.
In terms of sustainable factors and the number of goals in the entire career, Gyokeres is superior.
As the oldest in the trio (27 years old, compared to Ekitike 23 and Delap 22), Gyokeres leads nothing surprising but the gap is huge. He has scored a total of 174 goals in club tournaments, mostly from the last two seasons with Sporting. Meanwhile, Ekitike has 44 goals and Delap is 26.
Next is the financial factor.
Both Ekitike and Gyokeres are having an estimated transfer value of 75 million euros, and both witnessed a strong price increase in the past season. However, Ekitike's increase is much more impressive.
The French player started last season with a valuation of only 20 million euros, up to 55 million euros after a year. And Gyokeres started at 55 million euros and increased by 20 million – less than easy to understand because he was 27 years old. Meanwhile, Delap is currently worth 40 million euros, with a significant increase of 32 million euros compared to the beginning of the season.
When combining the market value and the amount of the club has spent, it is possible to make a preliminary assessment of the “value value” that the teams received.
Arsenal and Chelsea both spend less than the current value of the players they bought. Arsenal pays only 65.8 million euros to Gyokeres – 9.2 million lower than the current value. Chelsea spent 35.5 million euros to have Delap – lower than 4.5 million euros. Meanwhile, Liverpool spent up to 95 million euros for Ekitike, which is 20 million higher than his current value.
Only time can answer which deal will be the most successful, but it is clear that the Premier League has welcomed a series of promising new strikers this summer.
