Orri Óskarsson: Real Sociedad's New Icelandic Striker

There are trends that often come and go with forwards depending on how the best teams aim to set up and score goals. For instance, in the 2013/14 Premier League season, the top-scoring strikers were Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero, all of whom are under six-foot tall. 

By 2016/17, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku, Diego Costa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were all in the top five goal-scoring strikers and all over six-foot. The likes of Heung-min Son and Mohamed Salah then took centre stage as inside wingers became the in thing, until Erling Haaland came about and all-action target men became the type of forward everyone was looking for. 

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Since Haaland’s emergence and subsequent storming of every league he has played in, the likes of Alexander Isak and Rasmus Hojlund have followed in his footsteps to create a trend of Nordic strikers who are as physically imposing as they are tactically intelligent and instinctive in the penalty area.