Batistuta: "There are no more footballers with my qualities, and they're not looked for"

Agree or disagree with that statement?

Disagree with the important part.

I agree, there is no player right now with a cannon of a shot like his and aerial ability like that.

But why wouldnt anyone look for a player like that?

lol exactly. I think Cavani is pretty close to Batigol in style, although not as good.

Cavani reminds me of Bati Gol tbh. (Damn Sports beat me to it )

Although in the main i do agree with him, there are very few players with similar traits.

Mainly because clubs are interested in a different type.

He is right in a way, look at the two countries with the most active, most efficient academy systems: Spain and Germany.

Both countries produce forwards en masse, but most of them look like Reus, Silva, Pedro, Götze, Schürrle etc - mostly versatile forwards, somewhere between winger, AM, and SS, that can play as CF/ST, but excel at other aspects of the game.

Our top forwards, that could reasonably be played as strikers, in Germany are Reus, Müller, and Schürrle right now. They're all lean, just-above-average height, and rely more on technique than power or size, and move into empty space with pace, instead of lurking in dangerous areas.

You have the one-off player like Gomez, Llorente, Lasogga etc., but most of them aren't really picked up by clubs and developed properly, so you have all the Petersens, Wagners etc. of the world rotting on the benches, they might have all gotten a decent shot 10 years ago.

Versatility is where it's at. That's why Chelsea are willing to sell one of Abramovichs kidneys to get their hands on Schürrle, even though there's better finishers for half the money.

Argentina produces the best CFs today by far. Tevez, Higuain, Aguero, etc. They all actually kind of look like Batigol physically lol. But Batigol was very unique with that shot of his... it was a freakin cannon.

It was a completely different game tactically when Batigol played. At FIorentina, they played a 4411. There aren't a whole lot of teams that play variations of the 442 anymore.

VivaStPauli wrote:He is right in a way, look at the two countries with the most active, most efficient academy systems: Spain and Germany.

Both countries produce forwards en masse, but most of them look like Reus, Silva, Pedro, Götze, Schürrle etc - mostly versatile forwards, somewhere between winger, AM, and SS, that can play as CF/ST, but excel at other aspects of the game.

Our top forwards, that could reasonably be played as strikers, in Germany are Reus, Müller, and Schürrle right now. They're all lean, just-above-average height, and rely more on technique than power or size, and move into empty space with pace, instead of lurking in dangerous areas.

You have the one-off player like Gomez, Llorente, Lasogga etc., but most of them aren't really picked up by clubs and developed properly, so you have all the Petersens, Wagners etc. of the world rotting on the benches, they might have all gotten a decent shot 10 years ago.

Versatility is where it's at. That's why Chelsea are willing to sell one of Abramovichs kidneys to get their hands on Schürrle, even though there's better finishers for half the money.

Good post.