Here are the 10 best strikers in Serie A right now in 2024 based on a combination of recent success and overall pedigree.
10. Andrea Pinamonti, Sassuolo
Andrea Pinamonti has been one of the most perennially disappointing strikers in Italian football because on the basis of talent alone, he should be in the top five of the best strikers in Serie A.
Instead, Pinamonti does find himself in the top 10, as he has turned out to be a decent striker in his own right, capable of utter brilliance when inspiration strikers and his best quality comes to the fore.
9. Duvan Zapata, Torino
After a poor final season in Bergamo, the iconic Duvan Zapata got a new lease on life in Torino and proceeded to dispatch 12 goals with 4 assists to rebound somewhat and regain his reputation as one of the better strikers in Serie A.
Few forwards use their bodies as adeptly as Zapata, who finished the 2023/24 Serie A campaign with an average of three combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.
8. Ademola Lookman, Atalanta
Ademola Lookman was one of the big breakout stars of the 2022/23 Serie A season in his first season in Bergamo, though he had to take a bit of a backseat in the 2023/24 campaign to accommodate Gianluca Scamacca and Charles De Ketelaere.
Still, Lookman managed to impress as one of the top attacking players in Serie A again with 11 goals and 7 assists despite not playing a full 2,000 minutes in the league.
7. Gianluca Scamacca, Atalanta
Although Lookman was actually more productive than the Italian national team striker, Gianluca Scamacca has this nonchalance about him and a quality at the striker position that makes him a game-breaker against the biggest opponents when he is in the mood.
Scamacca looks a lot more focused under Gian Piero Gasperini than he did at previous stops with Sassuolo and West Ham, and he has become a more well-rounded striker.
Last season, Scamacca scored 12 goals and proved he could be a functional piece in a well-rounded, Champions League-worthy attack by averaging 1.1 key passes per game.
6. Albert Gudmundsson, Genoa
But if you want key passes and chance creation, then Albert Gudmundsson was arguably the finest in Serie A, surprisingly outshining new Inter Milan star Marcus Thuram in this category.
Gudmundsson was one of the big finds of the Serie A season, and though he was overshadowed by Bologna’s young Joshua Zirkzee, the Iceland international’s numbers were better.
With 14 goals, Gudmundsson was one of the top scorers in Serie A. He averaged 2.3 key passes per game and 2.5 dribbles completed and fouls drawn per match.
5. Charles De Ketelaere, Atalanta
Charles De Ketelaere was one of the best players in the Belgian league and came to AC Milan with a lot of fanfare, but the Rossoneri got absolutely nothing out of the now 23-year-old playmaker.
Instead, it took CDK moving to Atalanta to prove that he is indeed one of the biggest talents in European football, as Gian Piero Gasperini realized that De Ketelaere is a striker at heart and not a traditional playmaker.
CDK likes to try to drift away from the goal and drop deep, but as Gasperini has explained, De Ketelaere is at his best when he is playing closer to goal.
The Belgian international proved to be a game-changer in La Dea returning to Champions League qualification with 10 goals and 8 assists, combining playmaking chops with dead-eye finishing.
4. Marcus Thuram, Inter Milan
Marcus Thuram did exactly what Inter Milan expected him to when they signed the Frenchman for free from Borussia Monchengladbach, standing out as one of the best new additions of the Serie A season.
An upgrade on Romelu Lukaku, who flopped badly in Rome, Thuram formed a dynamite duo with Inter superstar Lautaro Martinez.
Thuram brought top-class production to a Nerazzurri side that ran away with the Scudetto, as he finished with 13 goals and 7 assists in a consistently great season that has earned him starts at striker for the French national team at Euro 2024.
3. Dusan Vlahovic, Juventus
Dusan Vlahovic began the 2023/24 season slowly with mounting concerns regarding his star status in the league and even his future in Turin.
By the end of the season, Vlahovic was unquestionably Juve’s best player and far more of a solution than a problem, standing out amongst his peers in the attack.
Vlahovic scored 16 goals with 4 assists, and you wonder what the former Fiorentina man will be capable of doing next under Thiago Motta, especially with a significantly upgraded midfield already in place after the Khephren Thuram and Douglas Luiz signings.
2. Victor Osimhen, Napoli
Injuries and a downturn in performance from Napoli as a team without Luciano Spalletti contributed to a down year from Victor Osimhen, who was the leading scorer in Serie A during the Scudetto-winning 2022/23 season.
Despite not being at his best level, Osimhen did score 15 goals with 3 assists, which is a pretty comparable statistical output to Vlahovic.
Osimhen will likely move to a bigger club, such as PSG, this summer, even with Premier League clubs cooling interest due to concerns whether or not a 100 million euro price tag justifies the injury risk.
If he stays in Serie A, the Vlahovic vs. Osimhen will be an even bigger topic of debate among Calcio fans, with Osimhen holding the edge because of the sheer brilliance of his 2022/23 campaign.
1. Lautaro Martinez, Inter Milan
If there was any debate about Serie A’s best striker, Lautaro Martinez put that to bed with an incredible 2023/24 season that was a continuation off a brilliant second half to his 2022/23 campaign.
That season, Lautaro answered his critics who said he was holding Inter Milan back and had stagnated by playing like a man on a mission, leading Inter to the Champions League Final and a Coppa Italia triumph.
In 2023/24, Lautaro led by example and in spirit, finding yet another level to his game as Inter absolutely ran away with the Serie A crown.
The Argentinian superstar was easily the best player in Italian football with 24 goals, 1.8 fouls drawn per game, and 1.1 key passes per match.
