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  • Promise The boy Álvaro, in the name of his grandmother and mother: from Raul's faith to Ancelotti's call
  • Protagonist Benzema, the resentment and anger for France and the "yes" to Madrid until 2024: "They did not want him"

During this break of selections, Joselu, 33, left Espanyol for a few days to be the star center forward of Spain. Niclas Füllkrug, 30, did the same with Werder Bremen to lead Germany's attack. Cristiano Ronaldo, at 38 years old and playing for Al Nassr, returned to Portugal. Mateo Retegui of Argentina's Club Atlético Tigre was Italy's surprise starter. Brazil didn't even come out with a pure '9'. England and Belgium continued to rely on Kane and Lukaku, who are in their thirties. Koeman opted for an irregular Depay in the Netherlands. France continues to give a place next to Mbappé to Giroud, who at 36 years old will renew with Milan... Football has fewer and fewer '9', an endangered species on a planet "obsessed", experts say, with midfielders and speed.

20 years ago, at the World Cup in Korea and Japan, the audience met Klose, Batistuta, Crespo, Ronaldo, Suker, Raul, Henry, Trezeguet, Owen, Inzaghi, Vieri, Totti, Ibrahimovic, Larsson, Sukur, Tomasson, Pauleta... Two decades later, the decline of Messi, Cristiano, Benzema, Suárez or Lewandowski, stars who shared time with great nines such as Drogba, Eto'o, Van Nistelrooy, Cavani, Van Persie or Higuaín, among others, will leave football without goals. Haaland and Mbappé, insatiable, are the exception to a rule that gives "dread" to all of Europe: there are no center forwards.

"The few there are, at the price of gold"

"There is a lack, it is a global reality," Victor Orta, sporting director of Leeds United of the Premier League, admits to EL MUNDO. "We have evolved into a less specialist striker. At the base you look at speed and mobility, that is the model, and we are obsessed, in Spain especially, with creation. They are characteristics that are not those of the classic striker of a few years ago. It is very difficult to produce strikers and the few that exist are paid at the price of gold, "he adds. In the same vein, Italian coach Eusebio Di Francesco, former Roma coach who eliminated Barça in the Champions League and a lover of Spanish football, is shown: "That shortage exists. Take Milan, a great team that has two strikers who are well over 30 years old, Giroud and Ibrahimovic. You have to give more confidence and patience with young people. In Italy there is fear of using young people. Then, there are many teams that prefer to use 'fake' 9, so every time you play with fewer center forwards to use. "

To analyze that "golden price" of the few center forwards there are and the talent they have with respect to other positions you have to go to Transfermarkt. Of the 50 players with the highest market value, only 9 are centre forwards. However, there are 17 midfielders, 15 wingers and 10 defenders. A statistic that in another era would be totally different. After Mbappé (180 million) and Haaland (170), the fan and the level is shortened: Oshimen (100), Kane (90), Lautaro Martínez (80), Gabriel Jesus (75), Vlahovic (75), Darwin Núñez (70), Kolo Muani (65), Jonathan David (60)... Players who have not yet shown everything in European football are paid and valued as diamonds. It's what scarcity has. "In Brazil it is already happening, they play without nine, and in England there is fear of the post-Kane era," details Orta, in whose Leeds the young Mateo Joseph has emerged, with English and Spanish nationality who has already been summoned for the British U21 "for fear" that he will leave with Spain.

"At the base it's all very academic"

In LaLiga, the last appearance has been that of Álvaro Rodríguez, Real Madrid's academy player who has been Carlo Ancelotti's emergency solution to his team's problems in attack. The Uruguayan, in addition, has many ballots to stay in the first team next season before the difficulties of the white team to find a substitute of guarantees for Benzema. "There is a lack of generational change of strikers and it is something that was foreseen by all levels in recent years. Football is in search of the '9' and nothing is paid as much as the goal, "explains Joyce Moreno, agent of Álvaro and expert in lower categories. "At the base everything is very academic. I think we should let the players evolve their potential and not label them."

In the Spanish team the problem is real, and not only in the absolute. The national striker with the most goals this season is Fran Navarro, of the Portuguese Gil Vicente, with 17 goals. The 27th of his position. Joselu, Spain's top scorer in LaLiga, has 13 goals this season and is 63rd in Europe. In terms of market value, Gerard Moreno is the most valuable center forward in Spanish football with an appraisal of 30 million. The 29th in the world in his position. A drama. Borja Iglesias and Morata, both with 25, touch the top40 and the next would be Ferrán Jutglá, now at Bruges, with 11 million, the 118th in the world in his position. "We are looking for strikers, but they do not leave," they admit from the sports direction of a LaLiga club. The best U23 is Sergio Camello, from Rayo, with 6 goals. Good season but far from his generation mates: he is the 51st scorer of his age.

While the big teams, especially Spain, Italy and Germany, live worried about their '9' of the future, the promises of the position come from more humble countries and football leagues. Removing the Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos, who has scored 24 goals at 21 years old with Benfica, appear from more exotic places the Danish of Atalanta Hojlund (14 and 20), the Greek of Utrecht Douvikas (15 and 23), the Czech of Sparta Prague Cvancara (15 and 22), the Mexican of Feyenoord Giménez (15 and 21) or the Slovenian of Salzburg Sesko (12 and 19).

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