ANALYSIS: Where have all the good goleadores gone in La Liga?

As Williot Swedberg approached the Real Betis box slowly and cautiously, as if dipping his toe in for temperature, you could be forgiven for thinking that he was going nowhere. The Swedish youngster dropped Sergi Altimira, cutting back with his right, then rolling out with his left – he might have waved to the ex-Getafe midfielder on his way past – but Swedberg was fortunate he plays for Celta Vigo. He could rely on Anastasios Douvikas to be stood at the far post to tap in a goal almost too easy to celebrate.

That was the second for the Galicians in the game of the weekend in La Liga, where Betis too were lucky enough to count Vitor Roque amongst their ranks. The Brazilian, who finally feels like a footballer again as his year anniversary on Spanish soil approaches, is starting to recover his thirst for goals. Were he not a natural striker, he might not have held his run that extra second to allow Carl Starfelt to move out of his way and clear a pass for Johnny Cardoso to find him on the penalty spot.

It is not that common a sight in Spain’s top division these days. You don’t have to hark back to Ray Davies to ask, where have all the good nines gone? Former Celta ‘Advisor’ Luis Campos, the current Paris Saint-Germain sporting director, lacked the commitment in a relationship where Os Celestes did end up wanting more, but his great contribution was signing Douvikas and Jorgen Strand Larsen. They are set to more than double their money on the Norwegian, and you wouldn’t bet against them doing similar with their Greek, who is averaging a goal every 114 minutes this season.

Goalscorers have always been at a premium. Yet as the world worries about their number sixes, and furrows its moral highbrow at the under-appreciation of midfielders compared to forwards (unless you’re voting in the Ballon d’Or, that’s for another day), your classic number nine is actually becoming more valuable. Just ask Rayo Vallecano.

Over the past three seasons, Rayo have forked out a weighty €16m on Raul de Tomas, Sergio Camello and you can probably add a decent chunk on wages for Radamel Falcao. In the transfer fees alone, it accounts for 51% of their total spend. The Colombian is gone, replaced both in stature and contribution by James Rodriguez. Yet as Vallecas roared, then yelled, then sighed at their attacks, Rayo never looked like scoring in their 3-1 defeat to Las Palmas. They have performed relatively well this season, but just 13 goals in 12 games explains their 12th position. Swinging between comedy and Kafka, only Las Palmas defender Scott McKenna could break their duck, in a nightmarish repetition of a scene etched onto the eyes of the Vallecanos through the opening third of the season.

After just two minutes, Camello would fashion a chance through hustle that few strikers possess, but one that any predator would not have considered missing. Setting a season-high 34 shots, not one of Rayo’s went in. Securing a remarkable three wins out of four, Diego Martinez has sustained his Las Palmas revival, through Alberto Moleiro and Fabio Silva’s form in front of goal, but the concern will be how much longer that can continue when their four central strikers have three Liga goals between them. Summer signing Oli McBurnie has hit the back of the next less times than Scottish international teammate McKenna, and last season the Canary Islanders nearly didn’t make it out alive because of that exact issue.

Scour the bottom half of La Liga, you have to in order to find goals. Eight teams in Spain’s top flight cannot muster more than a goal per game. Excluding penalties, only Moleiro, Juan Cruz (Leganes), Dodi Lukebakio (Sevilla) and Borja Iglesias from the handsome and enterprising Celta side are on course to break the 10-goal barrier this season.

Goals come at a premium, but it never felt this hard to find someone to score them, did it? A decade ago between the 2012-15 seasons Spanish football would treat you to 2.71 goals per game, an increase of 0.21 on the average on the 2022-25 seasons, including this one. Over the past three seasons, players have scored more than 10 Liga goals 41 times, coming from an average of 10.7 different teams. Cycle back to a decade ago, the same measuring sticks give you 65 players that burst the net, and 13 teams could expect to have someone go for more than double figures.

It’s a shortage that has been blamed on Pep Guardiola’s shift in style at various points, even if more Spanish sides in the middle and bottom of the table have sketched out Diego Simeone’s blueprints over the last decade. The arrival of Samu Aghehowa in the Spanish national team provides nervous hope that Spanish football, struggling to recruit number nines, can start to produce them.

Samu recently made his debut for the Spanish national team, and the 12-year gap between him and captain Alvaro Morata is quite noticeable. Morata succeeded a generation that ended with Fernando Torres, but was never pushed. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has tried with Abel Ruiz, who averages a goal every five games over his career, but it’s telling that Spain’s alternatives are Joselu Mato, a year older, and the red-hot Ayoze Perez, a year younger, in a side that otherwise is full of youth products that de la Fuente has seen come through in the youth sides. A parallel illustrated at Alaves too last season, when Luis Garcia Plaza alternated between Samu and 34-year-old Kike Garcia.

Even behind Samu though, Leeds United’s Mateo Joseph has impressed for the under-21s, but remains relatively shy in front of goal in the Championship. Scan through Spain’s age groups, and the top talents continue to be midfielders, and smooth-faced central defenders with even cleaner passes.

Robert Lewandowski said this week that these days the number six position was more important than a goalscoring number nine. He should know – the 36-year-old is 7 goals off his total last season, but the biggest difference in his Barcelona team has been the emergence of Marc Casado and Pedri as a proper base in midfield. Lewandowski’s improvement has been symbiotic with what is going on behind him, but there’s no escaping the fact that his goals are producing points from all their promising play.

One of the key shifts from the post-salary limit La Liga and the post-pandemic spending has been a shift to what Spain is good at, bringing through young talent ready for the top level. Still, you’re much more likely to pan for gold and polish up a good number six, in La Liga at least. If you’re in Spain, you’re much better off investing what you have in a number nine with goals on their mind and ice in their veins.