Why Europe’s Top Clubs Want Eli Junior Kroupi

Young strikers and prolific strikers are very difficult to find, so when one comes by, and shines, especially in the top leagues, the top clubs are usually quick to make a move. They are one of the most sought-after profiles currently in Europe.

Eli Junior Kroupi in his first season in the EPL, broke the record for the most goals by a teenager in a debut Premier League campaign, a record that had stood for over 30 years. So it is no surprise there has been plenty of interest in him. But is he ready for the step up within some few years, or does he need more time to develop his game?

Why Eli Junior Kroupi Is an Elite Finisher

Kroupi is an elite finisher. He scored 13 goals last season from just 21 starts, and his statistics were extremely impressive. He was the most clinical player in the entire league. Everything he touched turned to gold.

Now you might be thinking it was just a purple patch, that overperforming your xG like that is not repeatable, but xG does not take into account who is taking the shot. Kroupi is really special in front of goal, as we will see later in this article.

We saw the same at Lorient in Ligue 2. His finishing is textbook, from his approach right up to the moment he makes contact with the ball.

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He always positions himself right between centre backs. He constantly has his eyes on the ball and his body shape is open, ready to receive on the move. And if he gets it, he moves it away into space centrally, which gives him a better angle to score.

Kroupi has always been completely in control of one-on-one situations. He also loves to go for power and scores when he’s in front of goal. He can be in between the centre backs with his eyes on the pass. His control on the ball is also one of the best.

He positions himself as if he is going to shoot one way with his toes and hips pointing towards the keeper’s left. The keeper ever so slightly shifts that way too, anticipating the shot. But Kroupi in a split second opens his ankle and shoots the other way.

He is constantly taking into account the keeper’s position and level, which makes it all the more difficult to stop him in those moments. His touch to set up for a shot is also elite and one of a kind in the EPL.

He is also known as a player who uses him as a shield to block the keeper’s sight before curling the ball to the far corner. His speed of processing information in front of goal and precision are amongst the very best. Eli Kroupi rarely looks rushed and always aims for the corners where keepers struggle to reach. You often hear people say just get on target, but that is not how the elite strikers think.

There is a saying from marksmanship, “aim small, miss small.” It was made famous by the film The Patriot. The idea is if you aim at the whole target and you are slightly off, you could miss completely. But if you aim at one tiny spot, even when you are slightly off, you are still close to where you want it to go initially.

Eli Junior Kroupi does it better compared to the other strikers in the premier league and when shooting, knows exactly where he wants the ball to go.

Sometimes, you may think with distance his position and technique will drop, but it does not. He keeps his chest over the ball with his toes pointed towards the target, with a short backlift, and always follows through to get that power and dip on the ball.

In front of goal, there is no doubt in his quality, but being a top striker in the Premier League is about more than finishing quality, and that is where question marks over Kroupi’s game have been the loudest.

Handling the Physical Side of the Premier League

When Kroupi first joined Bournemouth, the idea was for him to play up top. However, he struggled with being a main striker early on, which is understandable given his size, age and going from Ligue 2 to the Premier League.

You could see that he did not want to get physical contact with the defenders. He would regularly avoid it, which made it hard for his side to get up the pitch when he had the ball.

Mostly when the ball is played into him and a defender is closing in, instead of controlling the ball and looking to roll the defender or win a foul, he dummies the ball, then the opposition regains the ball and sets out a counter pressure on their defence. It is a similar scenario here. Kroupi is wide with the defender closing him down.

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He has been putting his body between the ball and the defender and using his arms a lot more to fend them off. Kroupi also likes to drop to receive the ball and he has a quick glance over his shoulder.

He takes a touch away from a defender as if he will exit to his left, and then he spins away brilliantly to the other side using the defender’s momentum against him, and now he is charging at goal with the defence retreating.

This is what he started to do more as the season went on. He welcomed the pressure from defenders, looking to use his agility and balance to outsmart them.

You can see it in the numbers too. In his first 20 games, he was winning under 22% of his offensive duels. In his final 13 matches, that went up to nearly half. His success rate increased a lot, and so did his volume, going from 2.8 offensive duels a game to 3.7. His improvements do make sense. He has lovely close control and balance, making it easier to spin defenders.

Creativity and the Case for a January or Summer Move

With Kroupi dropping in a lot last season, we got to see his ability to connect play and find runners, probably more so than if he had played as a lone striker. Kroupi is not known for his chance creation, and the stats suggest it is not a key part of his game. Last season, he did not register a single assist.

When you see that, it is easy to conclude he does not have the capacity to be a high-volume creator. But when you watch some of his passes, there are clear signs of encouragement and he clearly understands where to play the pass to give his teammate the best chance to score.

What he needs to show now is a higher volume of these plays because the technique is clearly there. If he can make that kind of passes more regularly, it takes his game to another level.

So to finish, is he ready for that big-money move to one of Europe’s elite clubs? Can he lead the line alone, or is he not ready to be the focal point of any attack yet? For me, last season’s position was a learning curve.

Playing behind the striker took some of the pressure off him, and it gave him time to adjust to the league, but I do think his future is as a striker and not an attacking midfielder.

PSG and Arsenal have both been heavily linked. What is interesting is that both teams like their striker to drop in and bring others into the game, and that is something Kroupi has shown he can do. In a way, playing deeper last season helped him here. It forced him to iron out some poor tendencies and get better in the areas those teams want their striker to operate.

So is he ready for that move in the summer or maybe this coming January transfer window? Now, there is a case for waiting. He has only just come back from a broken foot. He has barely played since. As we have seen, he is still not the finished article, but the longer you wait, the more he is going to cost.

In the summer, Bournemouth wanted a nine-figure fee. If he picks up where he left off, that price is not going down. For me, that is the key. Yes, he has got things to work on, but the hardest thing to find in a striker is already there. His goalscoring is top tier. Things like linking play and the duels can be developed, and we have already seen him improving those areas in a matter of months.

He is one of the best young strikers around, and if a club like Arsenal can get a deal done, I would rather they did it sooner than be priced out of a move for a highly promising striker. Let me know your thoughts. Should Arsenal go for Kroupi now, or is the wait not worth it? Comment below with your thoughts.