Chelsea, Bayern & Man Utd compete for the most-wanted player in world football

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 12 May 2023 14:17 BST
• 4 min read

Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel has bemoaned his side’s lack of a world-class striker as they limp across the line in the Bundesliga, and he’s not the only manager searching for a new number nine.

The Bavarians are currently just one point of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the German top flight table, with only three games left of the season.

Tuchel’s arrival in March was intended to bring Champions League success back to Munich, but the former Chelsea boss was beaten by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the quarter-final stage and has overseen just four wins during his nine games in charge.

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He has blamed the lack of a true goal-scorer in his squad for the club’s jittering form and their exit from Europe’s premier club competition.

Ahead of their clash against Schalke this weekend, Tuchel told the media: “The big teams in [the] Champions League that are dominating have a reliable number nine at absolute world class level. Everyone is looking for one, everyone wants one.”

As he mentioned, Bayern aren’t the only club in world football in the hunt for a new number nine; both Manchester United and Chelsea are desperate to fix their goal-scoring issues, while Tottenham Hotspur will also be searching for a striker if Harry Kane finally leaves the club this summer.

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It is arguably the most-wanted position in football and it certainly is this summer. However, there aren’t many elite options on the market.

A small pool of potential signings

According to SciSports, using centre-forward as the main position and poacher as the role, the top seven strikers in the world are: Gabriel Jesus, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane, Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku.

Jesus, Haaland and Lewandowski all moved clubs last summer, so are extremely unlikely to do so again this time around, Mbappe signed a new contract at PSG last year, Nkunku is set to join Chelsea and arguably isn’t a number nine, and Benzema is now 35 years old.

Kane is the only viable option on that list, and the Englishman will likely cost in excess of €100 million due to Daniel Levy’s reluctance to sell.

Napoli star Victor Osimhen is another potential signing, but Aurelio De Laurentiis, the Serie A club’s president, recently admitted: “I will not sell Victor Osimhen this summer — no way.”

Jonathan David could be on the move during the upcoming window, but Lille have sold the aforementioned Osimhen and Nicolas Pepe for inflated fees in recent years, which means he may not come cheap. With several elite clubs wanting a new number nine and so few options available, it’s set to be an intriguing battle to see who ends the transfer window without their desired target.

However, despite his comments about a lack of a number nine, Tuchel does have Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in his ranks, who has scored a goal every 105 minutes this season. That strike rate is better than Benzema (every 113 mins), Lewandowski (every 121 mins), and Kane (every 144 mins).

The Cameroon international has only started one Bundesliga game since Tuchel took over from Julian Nagelsmann due to a knee injury.