What Makes a Striker Valuable? Strategic, Athletic, and Commercial Determinants in Modern Football

Abstract

The financial valuation of professional football players is a critical component of the strategic and financial management of sports clubs. This paper focuses on strikers and attempts to provide a thorough review of the international literature on the factors affecting their transfer value. Strikers play a key role in achieving victory through their contribution to scoring, which makes their accurate valuation crucial. The study identifies and categorizes the factors of valuation into competitive, individual, and professional/commercial. Furthermore, it highlights the multi-factorial nature of value, as well as the dynamic influence of non-race factors such as popularity, commercial appeal, and social media presence. The finding that competitive performance, with an emphasis on goals, is the most important factor is supported by most research. However, there is an emerging shift towards more holistic models of valuation, where psychological, tactical, and extra-territorial dimensions are considered, demonstrating the need for multi-level approaches in modern football management.