Does your club need goals? Assessing top No. 9s with a week left in transfer window

The January transfer closes on Feb. 3 and some of football’s biggest clubs — including many in the Premier League — are still struggling to find the central striker who can score the goals to transform their season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said his team need more goals to become title winners, while Manchester United are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League with a negative goal difference due to a group of forwards who are nowhere near to hitting double figures so far this season.

But where are the prolific No. 9s capable of making the difference at the biggest clubs?

Manchester City‘s decision to hand Erling Haaland a 9½-year contract highlights the lack of proven goal scorers in the game who have the ability and character to deliver at the top clubs. So, with several clubs in need of goals, Tor-Kristian Karlsen and Mark Ogden have taken on the role of sporting director to identify the best options out there — and potential gambles that might make all the difference — and devise some “best case,” video-game scenarios that won’t happen because they make too much sense.

TIER 1: Elite players who will make a difference