Again we can agree to disagree. But it does seem to me you only consider a traditional no 9 in the mould of 80's players like linekar ,rush and voeller as strikers and you dont see the no 10 type striker or the more modern type striker with all round skill as a "striker" per se.
Maybe this is an issue of sermantics but trust me Rooney is a striker! He doesnt get in the box all the time and sometimes plays deep but the responsibility for the vast majority of the goals is on his shoulders along with a core of 3-4 players in the man utd side.
Owen is what i would call an out and out striker , the "fox in the box" as we call em in england.
Crouch is a very skilled ball player and underated player. He's twice the player jenas is. Jenas is a poor mans andy cole. Beleive it or not but emile heskey was once seen as a traditional english striker. He's reveled himself since as a fast powerful guy albeit one who falls down too easy, with underrated skill and awareness but an increasingly lousy inability to score more than 5 goals a season.
Italy do need fresh blood but in a similar vein to scholes and giggs, ADP and inzaghe are such special talents that even the older versions of them are better than 80% of what else is out there. I mean in 15 years of the premiership the UK has not produced 1 other player on the left wing with half of giggs talent let alone speed,longevity and proffesionalim. Scholes although as flamboyant a talent on the field as he is quiet off it, is less rare, Gerrard and Lampard although different in style are the same multi talented attacking central midfielders.
anyway i digress, I agree with you that toni isnt the future , at least long term, since the guy is 31. But for the next couple of years he may be as good as it gets in regards to the traditional striker in the italian side. he has replaced Vieri who looks finished at 34. I agree also that Gilardino and Aquafresca arent the future either. Neither Iaquinta or Amauri should he be naturalised. But im sure someone will emerge for the long term like rooney and owen emerged for england. What italy have at present tho is ageing albeit still brilliant superstars in ADP, Inzaghe, and Totti, and a prolific striker at club level in Toni, and squad men like Gilardino and the rest.
