The reporter reported coldly Who is the hottest striker in Europe in 2024? The answer is Sporting Portugal's Jokeles. 62 goals in 63 games, that's Jokeles' goal figure for 2024. The 26-year-old Hungarian-Swedish centre-forward is fifth on the 21st century's single-calendar year goals list, behind Lionel Messi (91 goals, 2012), Robert Lewandowski (69 goals, 2021) and Cristiano Ronaldo (69 goals, 2013; 63 goals, 2014). In terms of statistics alone, Jokelesh is already a superstar who can be compared to three legendary superstars.

In the summer of 2023, Sporting de Portugal brought the Championship goalscorer to Lisbon for a whopping price of 20 million + 4 million euros for the Championship goalscorer. More than a year on, Jokelesh's name has been mentioned repeatedly and has become a hot name in the transfer market. And Jokeles, who scored his 32nd goal of the season last weekend, continues to prove his mettle to the big five leagues – why can't the Championship produce a striker if the hero doesn't ask where he comes from?

Super Shenfeng, three years of success

Jokelesh, like Marmush, didn't really become a world-renowned top scorer until he was 25 years old. But unlike Malmush, who only broke out this season, Jokaeleš has been on fire for three seasons. Back in the 2022/23 Championship season, he stood out as a prolific goalscorer. Jokelesh has 22 goals and 12 assists in 50 appearances for Coventry, and is the league's silver boot and assists leader. Unfortunately, in the penalty shoot-out in the Championship promotion play-offs that season, a mistake by a team-mate deprived him of the opportunity to play in the Premier League.

At 1.89 meters tall, Jokelesh is full of energy and his skills are not bad at his feet. Although he is a typical No. 9 center forward, in addition to scoring goals, his back and side-pulling ability are not weak. In Coventry City in 2022/23, Jokeleš had the most shots on goal with the ball (67 of 100 dribbles and 33 chances created). He has the highest average distance (95.2 metres) per game and is also the 'drop king' in the Championship – averaging 20 drops per game, seven more than the second-placed player. Jokeles' only weakness at the time was the low conversion rate of shots, which was only 13.2% for non-penalty kicks. However, Jokeles' threat in the opposition box remained excellent, averaging three sports shots per game and 7.8 touches per game in the opposition box, both the highest in the Championship in eight years.

After joining Sporting in the summer of 2023, young coach Amorim tailor-made a new centre-forward tactic for him, and Jokelesh broke out completely. 43 goals and 15 assists in 50 games, an average of 1.16 goals per game, an average of 72 minutes to get involved in scoring. Not only can he brush up on the weak team, but he also keeps scoring against Porto and Benfica, and he is a real big heart goalscorer. He won the 2023/24 Portuguese Super League title for Sporting de Portugal and won the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot and the Best of the Season. Despite the change of manager at Sporting this season, he was still able to deliver 32 goals and 6 assists in 30 games, scoring in an average of 67.6 minutes, and his efficiency has improved. In addition, 62 goals in 2024 also earned Jokelesh the Swedish Ballon d'Or of the Year.

Prior to Jokeles' arrival, Sporting had few prolific goalscorers. Jokeleche's goalscoring efficiency in this one-and-a-half-season is the best for Sporting since the 2016/17 season when Opta fully tally played in the Portuguese Super League. His low conversion rate in the Championship has also been tackled, with a 66.7 per cent conversion rate for his major chances in the Portuguese Super League. The Swedish striker is not only capable of scoring goals, but also has excellent assist ability, having scored a hat-trick of assists last season, becoming the first Portuguese sporting player to do so since Fernandes Fernandes in 2019.

"Mr. 100 million" waits

Sporting insisted on a 100 million euro termination fee, which led to the delay in the transfer of Jokeleš, who had been selected by the big five league giants last summer. However, this winter window, due to a serious injury to Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus and Manchester United's Hojlen and Zirkze, Jokelesh may be able to land in the Premier League early. The newspaper believes that Arsenal's target is Jokeleš or Mbeumo, and United's advantage is to completely activate the Swedish striker's young coach Amorim. However, the Red Devils lack funds in the winter window and can only hope for the summer window, when Jokelesh's release fee will drop to 75 million. In particular, when Amorim was poached from Sporting de Portugal by Manchester United last year, he promised not to poach people from his parent club in the winter window. Jokelesh would prefer to join Amorim's Manchester United, but he will have to wait at least until the summer. For Sporting de Portugal, any big club in the winter window can take Jokeles with a release clause of 100 million euros.

In an exclusive interview with the Swedish newspaper Corriere della Sera, Jokelesh also talked about his desire for the Premier League. In his apartment facing the sea in Lisbon, the trophy display case is already stacked. Jokelesh had to move the ball from the game he signed for his hat-trick against Manchester City last autumn to place his first Swedish Ballon d'Or. Jokeleš was a bit of a frustration when it came to the possibility of landing in the Premier League, as Bole Viana, who brought him to Sporting Portugal, is now Manchester City's sporting director, while his mentor Amorim is at Manchester United: "We'll see what happens when the time comes. Of course, playing in the best teams in Europe is the goal of all players. ”

Last year's Champions League hat-trick against Manchester City clearly made the whole world aware of Jokelesh's true quality. While there are still some voices who believe he may struggle to adapt to the Premier League, he has already proven himself three seasons ago in the more intense Championship. Now all Jokelesh needs to do is wait. Continue to prove yourself with goals on the pitch and continue to wait for offers from the Premier League to satisfy the club's psychological price. Until then, he is willing to wait until the summer to meet up with his mentor Amorim at Manchester United. But until then, Jokelesh won't turn down a suitable offer.

The players who have previously joined the top five leagues from the Portuguese Super League for more than 100 million euros are Felix (127.2 million euros) and Enzo (121 million), will Jokeles be the third "Mr. 100 million" to leave the Portuguese Super League? The last superstar to land in the Premier League from Sporting de Portugal and become a top scorer was none other than Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. In the past 2024, Jokaelesh scored 19 more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, who played in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps in the near future, one will see a new top scorer in the Premier League from Sporting de Portugal.