Features

Strikers in demand

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 08/01/2010
Football betting

The January transfer window always seems to throw up a number of surprise deals and goalscorers are always in demand this time of year as teams seek to bolster their strikeforces.

Outside of the Premier League a number of regular scorers will be targeted for a rise up the ranks, with Rangers Kris Boyd one of the main centres of fevered speculation.

Boyd recently became the leading scorer in the SPL era of Scottish football, surpassing the mark of 158 goals by former Celtic great Henrik Larsson by netting five goals in the 7-1 demolition of Dundee United.

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The Scotland international's all-round game has been questioned in some quarters, but what is not in doubt is his top-class finishing ability.

Since joining the Gers from Kilmarnock in January 2006, Boyd has netted 121 goals in 174 appearances in all competitions, meaning that he is certain to be on the radars of a number of clubs south of the border.

Celtic's Australian frontman Scott McDonald has also been linked with clubs in England, but he is unlikely to be tempted to move on with the World Cup finals in South Africa a matter of months away.

Two Championship goal-getters have reportedly been drawing attention for the Premier League, with Leicester City's Matty Fryatt and Peterborough United's Aaron McLean marked for top-flight moves.

Twenty-three-year-old Fryatt joined the Foxes three years ago from Walsall and last season he netted 32 goals to help Nigel Pearson's side make an immediate return to the Championship.

Back in the second tier of English football, Fryatt has scored 12 times this season and is reported to be interesting the likes of Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers.

McLean, 26, has enjoyed a meteoric rise with the Posh, helping them to two consecutive promotions.

He scored 33 times as Peterborough gained automatic promotion from League Two in 2007-08 and added 18 goals as Darren Ferguson's men romped through League One at the first attempt.

This term McLean has found the going tougher, finding the net just seven times as Posh have sunk to the foot of the Championship table and this record may scupper the powerful frontman's dreams of a Premier League switch.

League One contains the most talked about striker outside the top-flight, with Leeds United's Jermaine Beckford having hit the headlines by scoring his side's winner in the 1-0 FA Cup third round win at Manchester United.

The 26-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has now scored 20 times this season to help the Whites lead the way in the third tier of English football.

His overall record at Elland Road stands at 74 goals in 128 appearances, a return which has seen Newcastle United move in for the kill.

However, given Beckford's Old Trafford heroics, the Magpies may face Premier League competition to try and get their man.

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