The Clarets could bring in another striker before next month’s deadline.
Burnley kicked off the 2023/24 Premier League campaign with a 3-0 defeat to champions Manchester City on the opening day last week.
How did Lyle Foster perform against Manchester City?
Clarets boss Vincent Kompany opted to go with Lyle Foster as his lone no.9 against Pep Guardiola’s team and the centre-forward struggled throughout the match.
The 22-year-old recorded a Sofascore rating of 6.4, which was the joint-lowest of any starting midfielder or attacker for the Clarets, as he failed to register a single shot on target and created one chance for his teammates.
Burnley could look to strengthen their options in his position in order to give them the best possible chance of avoiding relegation and one player who they could look to is Sheraldo Becker, who was linked with the club earlier this summer.
How good is Sheraldo Becker?
The Union Berlin marksman, who has been valued at £15m by the German side, could come in as a big upgrade on Foster for Kompany if he is able to translate his Bundesliga form over to the Premier League.
Becker enjoyed a terrific 2022/23 campaign for Union as he showcased his ability as both a scorer and creator of goals from a number nine position.
The 28-year-old hotshot averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.13 across 34 Bundesliga appearances as he contributed with 11 goals and seven assists. His impressive finishing was on full display as he only missed two ‘big chances’ and scored 11 goals from just 5.71 xG.
Foster, meanwhile, played 11 Championship matches for Burnley during the second half of last season and missed two ‘big chances’ to go along with one goal scored. That came after he scored eight goals and spurned four ‘big chances’ in 21 Pro League games at the backend of 2022.
These statistics suggest that Becker has the potential to offer a greater goal threat at the top end of the pitch, whilst also being more “clinical” – as he was once dubbed by journalist Josh Bunting – due to his minimal amount of missed opportunities.
Nathan Tella (17) was the only Burnley player who scored more than 11 league goals last term and he has since returned to Southampton after his loan spell. This means that the Suriname international could be a terrific scoring option for the Belgian head coach.
The Union star could also provide more creativity than Foster.
He produced eight ‘big chances’ and 1.3 key passes per game for his teammates last season in the Bundesliga, whereas the Clarets forward managed 0.5 key passes per Championship outing and failed to create a single ‘big chance’.
Only Josh Brownhill (1.8) created more opportunities per match for Burnley than Becker did for Union and this suggests that the £15m-rated ace could be an outstanding creator for Kompany through the middle of the pitch.
Therefore, Becker would be a big upgrade on Foster in terms of the goals and assists he could rack up from a number nine position, and the Clarets target would come in as one of the biggest attacking threats for the team based on his form last season in comparison to their current options.
