Germany legend and Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller has ranked Patrik Schick alongside Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland as among the three best strikers in the world.
Bayer Leverkusen currently sit third in the Bundesliga and Schick’s output in the final third has been key to that ascent, with the Czech Republic international netting 18 league goals, which puts him behind only Lewandowski in the race for this season’s Kicker-Torjagerkanone.
The 26-year-old is currently enjoying his second campaign at the BayArena after transferring from Roma, for whom he struggled to score on a consistent enough basis to justify his club-record fee, believed to be in the region of €42m.
However, Schick has been in blistering form of late, following on from his memorable Euro 2020, during which time he finished as the joint top goalscorer alongside Cristiano Ronaldo (five), with his 49.7-yard strike against Scotland being the longest in the competition’s history.
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In fact, across Europe’s top five leagues only Robert Lewandowski (23) has netted more than him, leading a former prolific goalscorer, Voller, to bracket him alongside Lewandowski and Haaland as among the best in world football at the minute.
“Is Patrik Schick in the world-class category alongside Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland? You only have to look at the Bundesliga scoring charts, where he’s right between the pair,” said Voller, who scored 132 goals in 232 Bundesliga games.
“He scored as many goals as Cristiano Ronaldo at the Euros, so was already in the world-class category, but has only got better with us this season. He has a lot of qualities: heading the ball – he’s the best at that of the [aforementioned] three. His pace. His left football is brilliant. He’s a centre-forward who can really play and also hold up the ball.”
If you were to take away penalties and set-pieces, Schick has scored the joint-most open play goals of any player across Europe’s top five leagues this season, alongside Lewandowski, with 16 of his 18 strikes coming away from deadball scenarios.