Best Football Managers Without a Job in 2024
See who are the best football managers without a job (in 2024). Some of the biggest names in recent times are waiting by the phone for the next job.
No acrobatic save, no sacrificing last-ditch tackle, and no eye-spinning dribble can make a football arena explode as much as the ball hitting the net! Goalscorers are still football’s royalty. Hence, the best strikers in the world in 2024 are in a stardom league of their own.
Of course, it’s going to be a controversial topic, yet the best thing about the Golden Boot and general talk about top strikers is that numbers tell a story here. Of course, football’s history is filled with players who did it for just one season only to fall off the next. Here, we’re focusing on the best strikers in 2023, but with their career efforts also playing a part in the final rankings.
There have been players who have absolutely lit up the 2023/2024 season - Viktor Gyokeres scored 40 goals in 46 games and made 16 assists, representing Sporting. Yet the 25-year-old's entire resume can't warrant the entrance in the halls of the greatest.
Luuk de Jong is another striker who is having the season of his life with 36 goals and 17 assists in 45 games for PSV. Yet overall, on the quality of the league, consistency, and competition, he can't make it all the way up to top 10.
Some others who are knocking on the doors of the best strikers in 2024 are Ollie Watkins, Lois Openda, Deniz Undav, Serhou Guirassy, Darwin Nunez, Jonathan David, Artem Dovbyk ...
With a departure to the Saudi Arabia league, and having a solid - yet underwhelming performance there in 29 games (13G/8A), Karim Benzema fell out of the rankings at the age of 36.
# 10 best striker in the world: Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
Peaking into the top 10 is Dusan Vlahovic, yet the Juventus sharpshooter gets the nod ahead of Jonathan David as he scored more goals in the top five leagues. Whilst it's udeniable that Serie A is still ahead of Ligue 1. Vlahovic has bagged 77 goals in his 169 Serie A games for Juve and Fiorentina, assisting 13 times.
Vlahovic's 40 goals and 10 assists in 96 games for Massimiliano Allegri's current Juve team hold more weight than usual. Everyone familiar with the coach's tactics can't argue otherwise. A 16 goal run in 29 Serie A games of the 2023/2024 season, alongside a strong start for Serbia with 13 goals in 25 games make the 2022 €83,500,000 signing one of the top strikers.
Although, on our roundup of best Serbian players, a different striker got the number one spot - based on national team merit.
#9 best striker in the world: Victor Osimhen (Napoli)
Victor Osimhen led Napoli to a long-awaited Scudetto with 26 Serie A goals in 32 matches, alongside five assists. Becoming the top scorer of the league. He was efficient in the Champions League as well, with five goals in six matches. The 24-year-old is showing the ever-important consistency with six goals in 10 matches at the start of the new campaign. A trait that all of the best strikers in the world have, Osimhen has produced for his country of Nigeria too, scoring 20 goals in 27 matches.
Even with Napoli suffering from a success hangover badly, and is at risk of not even securing any European spots (despite Italy having seven of them), Osimhen still performed well. Still, he had to drop down one spot compared to his previous outing as he bagged 16 goals in 29 matches, alongside four assists. He also scored only once in Nigeria's eventually-sour Cup of Nations run to the final.
#8 best striker in the world: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
Beating out the like of his clubmate Alvaro Morata who is more of a traditional striker, Antoine Griezmann is enjoying a resurgence in his career. A versatile player as they come, makes it so that considering him as a striker isn't as common. Yet, Griezmann is a goalscorer to say the least, bagging 16 goals in 48 games of the 2022/2023 season. Adding to his tally with 19 goals. Of course, scoring or assisting is not all that strikers have to do now, and Griezmann is the perfect player to illustrate that as he is known for his commitment to pressing and doing the "ugly" parts as well.
Griezmann is still holding his own with 21 goals and eight assists in 44 matches of the 2023/2024 season! At the age of 33, it seems as if the Frenchman could score several more 20+ goals per season, on top of everything else he does on the pitch.
#7 best striker in the world: Leo Messi (Inter Miami)
We're not putting Leo Messi underneath all these remaining best strikers in the world, relax. He can now comfortably be called the best player to do it, yet the reality is that he isn't confined to the centre-forward position. He might be a team's primary goalscorer, often placed at the tip of the spear, yet he starts many games on the right wing. The 2022/2023 Ligue 1 season saw Leo Messi return 16 goals and 16 assists in 32 matches! Overall, he bagged 32 goals and 25 assists in 54 matches for PSG and Inter Miami. Not to mention winning the World Cup at the end of 2022.
It feels like blasphemy placing Messi closer to the cut-off line, yet even he can't keep away father time. But others' efforts carry more weight than those achieved in the MLS, even though they are great with 22 goals and 11 assists in 24 matches.
#6 best striker in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr)
Even though he’s nearing a year outside of Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo’s accolades didn’t stop and the Portuguese scored 25 goals in 30 matches with eight assists too. While one might clamour “it’s the Saudi league”, the reality is that that division now has five times more known players than Eredivisie has for the average fan. CR7 has been going strong in the international waters, scoring nine goals in 2023 alone. In the 2023 calendar year, he has 40 goals and no one is above him globally! He also became the first player to reach at least 100 goals in three different decades: 206 in the 2000s, 550 in the 2010s, and 102 so far in the 2020s.
Cristiano hasn't sang his final song on these rankings, he is immense for Al-Nassr, hungy as ever. In the current season he scored 36 goals and made 12 assists in 38 matches. With the 2024 EURO a gauge to show just how well that translates to the elite level of football.
#5 best striker in the world: Lautaro Martínez (Inter)
Even though he was criticized and doubted for the longest time, Lautaro Martinez continued on trucking and finally reached the destination - belonging to the select group of the best strikers in the world. The Argentinian scored 28 goals in 57 games he played across the 2022/2023 campaign, recording 11 assists too. Inter reached the CL finals and LAutaro won the World Cup as well, so it's hard to argue with his biography now. The still-young Argentinian started the 2023/2024 season even better, scoring 11 goals in the first 10 games, and recording a poker in a single match as well.
The 26-year-old is rounding up a second impressive year of scoring with 26 goals in 41 matches overall, with six assists. He is on the course for winning his first Capocannoniere trophy for the best goalscorer in a Serie A season - counting to 23 goals in 30 games.
#4 best striker in the world: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
For two years Robert Lewandowski was not just the best striker in the world, he was the best player in the world. In his first season with Barcelona, the Polish sharpshooter didn’t flinch and scored 23 league goals alongside seven assists, in 34 matches. Winning the Pichichi trophy for La Liga’s best marksman. Overall, the 35-year-old scored 33 goals in 46 games, with eight assists. The 2023/2024 campaign started well too with six goals and four assists in the first 10 matches. With the meticulous approach to his recovery, RL9 is bound to stay amongst the world’s top 10 and possibly even top five strikers.
But with significantly lower numbers in his sophomore season at Barca - 20 goals in 43 matches, Lewa is finally showing signs of ageing. They are still sound numbers for a striker in a transitional team, as he did make nine assists too. Yet La Liga numbers of 16 goals in 30 matches worry a bit. EURO 2024 could make RL9's legacy in a major way, as he did underperform with the national team.
More on the merit of the previous years of this decade of 2020s, RL9 remains this high placement. Yet he is the first candidate to drop down and let the younger enter the rankings for the top five strikers in the world.
#3 best striker in the world: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Finally, Harry Kane made his switch away from Tottenham in a quest to equate his team successes with his individual quality. Aged 30, Kane is hungry for trophies and the start of the German saga started off perfectly with nine goals in 10 games, alongside five assists. All after bagging 32 goals for THFC in 49 games of the previous seasons, with only five assists after two seasons in which he excelled in that stat line as well. Kane could be the most well-rounded striker there is now in the game, and with Bayern Munich behind him, he could make the #1 spot in the future.
On individual merit, Harry Kane enhanced his stature as a goalscorer by moving to Germany, yet the fumble in the Bundesliga cannot be overlooked for a €100,000,000 signing. However, Kane is still in the running for winning the Champions League and is Europe's best sharpshooter at the start of May 2024. Scoring 42 in 42 for Bayern, alongside 13 assists.
#2 best striker in the world: Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
There are conversations on whether Mbappe can be regarded as a pure striker, and truly he has been playing mostly on the left wing in the current Paris Saint-Germain season which saw him score eight in nine first games. Yet, in the previous, 2022/2023 campaign, the 24-year-old scored 41 goals in 43 matches, where he played mostly as a centre-forward. With 10 assists in that club campaign, Mbappe showed amazing consistency again. Not to mention reaching the World Cup finals with France, scoring three in the finals, and playing as a striker there.
With 43 goals and 10 assists in 44 first games of the 2023/2024 campaign, Mbappe proved he is one of the best goalscorers of current time. Closer to the #1 spot than ever before, Kylian Mbappe still mostly suffers from success due to his place of work - Ligue 1. However, he cannot be contained for any longer as the move to Real Madrid is imminent and the 25-year-old led PSG to the Champions League semi-finals.
#1 best striker in the world: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
The golden standard, and we're not talking about his hair. Erling Haaland has took Europe by storm and then the 23-year-old excelled in his first season with Manchester City - scoring 52 goals in 53 games, and registering nine assists as well. Finally enabling City to reach European glory. Erling was both the Champions League and the Premier League top scorer in his debut year with the City squad! The ever-hungry Norweigan scored eight in his first eight PL games of the sophomore season. Even his record with the international side is wildly impressive - 27 goals in 31 matches.
Even in the second year, when people are claiming he has been figured out, Erling bagged 21 Premier League goals in 27 matches. In 40 overall games, he scored 32 times and made six assists. With the centre-backs dealing with his gravitational pull, it left a lot of space open for his midfield teammates to score. Even though there isn't a clear metric for that, it cannot be overlooked.
