It's a Super Striker Sunday for the big spenders

"Big man summer", they have been calling it. The must-have item on English Premier League shopping lists has been a centre forward.

- John Brewin

Not that the big target man ever went completely out of fashion. Erling Haaland has been a one-man wrecking ball for Manchester City. Last season, New Zealander Chris Wood scored 20 goals to turn Nottingham Forest into a proposition.

The archetype for the modern No. 9 is they must be tall, mobile, capable of linking play and be willing to press hard from the front.

With defenders increasingly tall, mobile and athletic, physical power must be part of the make-up, too.

As set pieces increase in importance, with clubs employing coaches to work on that facet of the game, a striker must be strong in the air.

The regeneration of the modern striker perhaps began with Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona's Poland great who turns 37 on Aug 21. Perhaps a debt is also owed to Harry Kane, who replaced Lewandowski at Bayern Munich.