Replacing Chris Wood: Using xGold to find 4 transfer options for Burnley

Finding a striker in the modern game is not as straightforward a process as it might have been in the past. When we think of strikers we automatically think of goalscorers and players who come alive in the final third of the penalty area and are not really involved with other parts of the game.

With a greater understanding and differentiation in terms of team styles, however, the role of the striker has changed. Take the English Premier League for example and we immediately see that a striker needs to have a different skillset depending on which team they happen to play for.

At Manchester City, for example, a forward needs to be able to function as a creative midfielder as they tend to play in such compact shapes that interlinking with teammates is an important part of the role. At Liverpool, the ability of the central striker to drop off and play in deeper areas is important in terms of creating space for the likes of Salah or Mane to cut inside and attack diagonally into the penalty area. While both of those examples are at the top end of the Premier League hierarchy we can look lower in the table to see that this trend hold true.

Under Sean Dyche, we have seen Burnley develop perhaps one of the most effective game models in the top-flight, especially when you take into account the level of spending on transfers and wages at each club. Burnley are a side who take some criticism for their perceived style of play but their compact shape and aggressive and direct style is combined with intelligent team building and recruitment that sees then target players that they believe is a fit for their team and style of play.

Now, Burnley find themselves in a position where they have to find a new striker with the news that the New Zealand international Chris Wood has left the club to join Newcastle United, a side that are in the relegation fight this season with Burnley. I dont think that Burnley expected to be losing one of their most effective strikers this January but with reports that Newcastle played £25M for a striker who is 30-years-old and that Wood wanted to make a move for a fresh challenge we see Burnley now in a position where they have to try to replace Wood and his output in a difficult window.

In this article, we will use our xGold tool to identify four possible targets that Burnley could turn to in order to strengthen their squad. xGold is a custom-built tool that allows us to find players with similar data outputs to a target player from around the football world.

#1 Lyndon Dykes, 26-years-old, QPR and Scotland  89% match

The first player on our list for Burnley to consider is the 26-year-old Scottish international Lyndon Dykes. Dykes, who was actually born in Australia has been linked in recent days to a move to the top-flight in England with the likes of Crystal Palace and Newcastle (its always Newcastle) reported to have an interest in the forward. Dykes profiles as a traditional target-forward who receives the ball well with his back to goal and can bring others into the game as they move into advanced positions. He also, however, has the pace to run and threaten the space behind the defensive line, something that Wood does not necessarily have in his game.

While Dykes does not profile as a prolific goalscorer he does tend to create spaces and opportunities for teammates as he drags opposition defenders towards him as they try to deal with his power and threat in the air.

First of all we will look to compare Dykes to Chris Wood in terms of his attacking outputs. As you can see from the radar comparison Dykes output is higher almost across the board than Woods with the only exception being a slightly higher percentile rank for Woods in terms of head goals per 90. It should be noted that neither Woods nor Dykes profile as forwards who take a large volume of shots although as you can see from the radar Dykes is higher in terms of his % of shots on target and goal conversion %. We do, of course, have to note that Dykes is playing at a slightly easier level than Woods but looking at the data above I think that Dykes data translates into an interesting option for replacing Woods.

Now, we will consider a comparis