Ranking the 8 most overrated strikers in world football: Gyokeres & Sesko top two… | OneFootball

Manchester United, Arsenal and Barcelona men feature in our list of the most overrated strikers across world football in 2026.

Big names, huge fees and relentless hype do not always guarantee elite output, as these high-profile forwards demonstrate.

Here are the eight most overrated strikers around.

8. Jean-Philippe Mateta

Kicking things off with a provocative take. We stand by it, though.

Few players have more Premier League goals than the Frenchman over the past two and a half seasons.

But that’s in part a testament to the supporting cast at Crystal Palace and the rate of chances they’ve fashioned for him.

Mateta’s finishing is anything but convincing. He’s missed 15 big chances this season – only Erling Haaland has missed more, but you can forgive that as he closes in on a third Golden Boot in four years. And no player has underperformed their xG more.

Selling another key player now could be disastrous for Crystal Palace’s already rock-bottom morale, but it might actually make sense.

Mateta strikes us as the kind of player who would flop big time at a European giant, with a big-money fee soon appearing like exceptional business.

7. Mika Biereth

The Hale End academy graduate enjoyed an excellent, if brief, stint at Austrian champions Sturm Graz.

That prompted Monaco to take a punt on his signature, and he kicked off his career in France with the hottest of hot streaks, firing them to Champions League qualification with 13 goals in 16 appearances in the latter half of last season.

Various questions were raised about Arsenal letting the Dane go, but we’ve seen a regression to the mean since then. He’s scored just twice in Ligue 1 this season.

We’re getting Krzysztof Piatek vibes. He couldn’t stop scoring for Genoa and was similarly unstoppable in his first few months at AC Milan before soon going off the boil. A flash in the pan.

6. Jorgen Strand Larsen

Wolves reportedly rejected a £55million bid from Newcastle United for the Norwegian in the summer. Now Leeds appear willing to break their transfer record to sign him.

Last year, Strand Larsen enjoyed a decent debut Premier League campaign. But is he really that good?

Of all the strikers to make 10 or more appearances across Europe’s top five leagues this season, only one has a worse average WhoScored rating than the Wolves man.

He’s scored just one goal and surely shoulders a fair share of responsibility for their inevitable relegation.

5. Robert Lewandowski

Another big shout, this one, but bear with us.

Lewandowski is undoubtedly one of the greatest strikers of all time. Only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored more goals in the history of Europe’s five major leagues.

The veteran’s legacy is unquestionable. He has nothing left to prove. But at the age of 37, with the miles in the tank and his legs going, we question his fit at Hansi Flick’s all-action Barcelona.

He’ll still reliably finish chances – nine goals from 16 La Liga outings is a decent return, and he recently scored in El Clasico – but Barca’s attack arguably looks more fluid and convincing when he’s not there.

Not only is Ferran Torres now just as prolific, but he seems more in tune with the likes of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.

The MLS is surely calling for Lewandowski. At this stage of his career, there’s nothing wrong with that.

4. Evan Ferguson

Once touted as Brighton’s next £100million sale, the prospect of that looks less and less likely with each passing month.

The 21-year-old still has time on his side. Republic of Ireland fans still harbour hope that he’ll burst into life and live up to the frightening potential he showed with a superb hat-trick against Newcastle United…  way back in September 2023.

But that half-season loan to West Ham was a disaster. A fresh challenge with Roma hasn’t gone much better.

Gian Piero Gasperini has a proven track record of developing strikers (Duvan Zapata, Mateo Retegui, Rasmus Hojlund… even going back to Diego Milito at Genoa).

But he’s sounded exasperated at Ferguson’s efforts and practically begged for a replacement striker in January.

“He has to deliver on the pitch and his performances haven’t been positive,” the veteran Italian tactician said in late October.

“To be honest, yesterday was the first time I saw him train properly.”

Ouch. Now might be the time for Ireland to put all their eggs into the Troy Parrott basket. That didn’t go too badly when Ferguson was injured over the last international break.

3. Mateo Retegui

It’s over a decade since we’ve last seen Italy at a World Cup. Their qualifying woes have coincided with a real dearth of quality goalscorers.

Ciro Immobile was remarkably prolific for Lazio, even beating Messi and Ronaldo to the European Golden Shoe in 2019-20, but he was never as reliable for the Azzurri.

Their prayers seemed to have finally been answered with the emergence of Argentina-born Retegui. But fresh from winning Serie A’s Capocannoniere award with a career-best 25 goals, he moved to the Saudi Pro League…

…Where he’s getting outscored by Joao Felix, Ivan Toney and Josh King. Yes, that Josh King. Still going, apparently.

Italy’s striker curse is real.

2. Benjamin Sesko

It doesn’t take a genius to see what scouts saw in Sesko.

The kid is outrageously big. Commentators are seemingly obliged to mention his 6’5″ frame every time he steps onto the pitch. He’s quick, too. The natural attributes are clearly there to be harnessed.

But finding another Haaland is easier said than done. In shipping out Hojlund and signing Sesko, Manchester United just swapped one incredibly raw work in progress for another.

Manchester United’s riches mean that they’re afforded the luxury of going out and signing the finished article. In the words of Don Draper, that’s what the money is for.

Leave the development to the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth. As with Hojlund, this step in Sesko’s career has come far too soon.

1. Viktor Gyokeres

We’re more about the eye test here at Planet Football. And Gyokeres reeks of Francis Jeffers.

Few strikers in Premier League history have looked as much like they’re wearing jeans as Gyokeres at Arsenal. Romelu Lukaku in his most hapless days at Manchester United, maybe.

But it’s nice to know the vibes are backed up by the stats, which could scarcely be more damning.

Gyokeres scored almost a hundred goals in two years in Portugal, but it really looks as though they’ve bought a jobbing Championship centre-forward – as was the case before his time at Sporting. Like spending £55million on Joel Piroe, Chuba Akpom or Matej Vydra.

Gyokeres’ replacement at Sporting, Luis Suarez (not that one), is also averaging a goal a game.

Prior to that, the Colombian’s had a completely unremarkable journeyman career in the Spanish second tier.

Arsenal appear to have made the cardinal sin of being dazzled by goals scored in Portugal.

Very few of the Primeira Liga’s top scorers have gone on to be a success elsewhere, from Mario Jardel to Jackson Martinez to Bas Dost to Carlos Vinicius to Darwin Nunez.

It appears a matter of time before we add Gyokeres’ name to that list definitively.