| Age: 32 | Foot: Left | Height: 194 cm |
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In a football world obsessed with various forward positions, Vedat Muriqi of Mallorca stands out as a glorious anomaly, who is turning the clock back in La Liga 2025/26.
He scored an astonishing 23 goals and finished $2{ }^{\text {nd }}$ only to Kylian Mbappe in the La Liga top scorers list. Let us take a statistical deep dive into one of the league’s most curious, and best sharpshooters.
Just like every good centre forward, Muriqi feeds on good service. His xG stats do not backup his actual goals, and this is a sign of a clinical finisher, who finishes even a half-chance. For a side which spent almost the entire season in the bottom half of the table, having a clinical striker like Muriqi meant that they could always rely on his goal output to stay in the division.
What stands out is Muriqi’s positioning. Just like any good centre forward, he has an eye for dangerous situations and is in the right place at the right time. At 32, he was never going to be the one to chase through balls with his pace and pressurize the defenders. What he lacks in pace, he makes up brilliantly with his excellent positioning.
Muriqi is the ultimate poacher. He senses danger and aims to be one step ahead of the defender always. Some of his goals this season specifically caught my eye, and drew me to analyse his natural poacher instinct:
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P.S: Do expand the :playemoji: dropdown across sections to get a full breakdown
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Matchday 27 vs Osasuna CF, Matchday 35 vs Villareal CF: A key part of a centre forwards job is to occupy spaces in the box, and anticipate any kind of errors by a defender or the goalkeeper. Once the goalkeeper makes a mistake, the forward is in a great position to finish. A lot of thinking goes behind these goals, including intelligent positioning and brilliant game awareness, both of which has been standout features of Muriqi’s goals this season. Below are two great examples of a classic poacher’s finish, making clever runs to be in a great position to take advantage of any defensive error.
Muriqi thrives on offensive aerial duels. He is in the $\mathbf{9 9}^{\text {th }}$percentile in the league for offensive aerial duels won, and as a result is $\mathbf{4}^{\text {th }}$in the league for headed shots. His constant aerial threat in and around the box makes him a dangerous player to mark, especially in set pieces.