Is This Bundesliga Striker Up There With Haaland and Mbappe?

Is This Bundesliga Striker Up There With Haaland and Mbappe?

The ‘world’s best striker’ debate is quite frankly getting a little boring. It is a debate dominated by Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Man City’s Erling Haaland, while Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona occasionally throw their names into the hat.

However, there is one unlikely candidate who has been going under the radar with his work in Germany’s top flight, and thanks to the spotlight being focused elsewhere, he has managed to transform into one of the world’s most lethal goalscorers with little fanfare and only a limited amount of hype.

I am, of course, talking about Serhou Guirassy of Borussia Dortmund, a player who many view as worthy of starting for the biggest clubs in Europe.

🚨 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪: Serhou Guirassy has 53 G/A in his last 56 official games.

47 goals + 6 assists. pic.twitter.com/sxtcyj280g

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) September 2, 2025

The Guinean boasts one of the most impressive goalscoring CVs on the continent, and were it not for Haaland, Mbappe and co., his trophy cabinet would be considerably fuller, notwithstanding his already achieved Champions League awards.

At 29 years of age, Guirassy is in the prime of his career, and his unbelievable consistency for Germany’s second-best team is crying out for a big-money move to a trophy-winning club. His time at Dortmund has illustrated to the world what a special talent he is, and that Der BVB can take him no further.

An Unspectacular Start

For a striker who over the course of the last two and a bit seasons has found the net 75 times in just 93 games, Guirassy had a surprisingly low-key start to life as a professional footballer, with his path to the top resembling that of a classic journeyman.

Starting out at Stade Lavallois in the French second tier, there were no early signs that indicated that he would go on to become a superstar. However, LOSC Lille did see enough potential to sign him for €1 million in the summer of 2015, despite Guirassy finding the net just seven times in 34 games in Ligue 2.

In the first half of the 15/16 season, he played nine times for his new club, and found the net in a cup game for them, but generally he failed to impress, and as a result, he was shipped back to the second tier on loan to Auxerre in January 2016.

Sure wonderkids are fun... everyone is obsessed with "youngest this," "youngest that"...

But I've still got a lot of time for the late bloomer.

Serhou Guirassy definitely fits into that category.

Was playing for Amiens until he was 24...

61 goals in the 6 seasons prior to a… pic.twitter.com/GqnRfVys0I

— Dougie Critchley (@DougieCritchley) September 9, 2025

It was here that Guirassy provided the first hints of what he could become, netting eight goals in 16 games as Auxerre finished in the upper mid-table. However, Lille saw no reason to keep him and sold him for a profit that summer to German side FC Köln, raking in €2.9 million in the process.

Guirassy’s start to life in Germany was not a smooth one - soon after arriving, he suffered a meniscus injury in his knee and was limited to just six games in his first season, failing to find the net in any of them. The following campaign he managed more game time but only managed seven goals in 22 games - not exactly the output of an elite European striker.

Once again, his parent club grew impatient with his lack of obvious progress, and in January of 2019, he returned to France once again on a loan deal, this time to Amiens. Remarkably, he earned himself a permanent move to the French side despite netting three goals in 13 games, form that would not typically see a permanent transfer pursued.

His output did improve the following season, as he netted nine times in 24 Ligue 1 games, but his games couldn’t save his side, who were relegated upon the early abandonment of the French domestic season thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, Guirassy had finally showcased some top division goalscoring form, and it was Rennes who were the next outfit to take a chance on the striker - it was arguably the move that kickstarted his career.

A Step Into The Unknown

Playing in European competition for the first time in his career - taking part in the Champions League no less - Guirassy came on in leaps and bounds in his first season at Rennes, netting both his and the club's first Champions League goal and finishing the campaign with his first ever double-figure tally (13).

He snatched his first career hat-trick the very next season and once again achieved double figures, although his 12 goals in 48 games was a dip from the previous campaign.

In the summer of 2022, the arrivals of both Arnaud Kalimuendo and Amine Gouiri rendered Guirassy surplus to requirements in the centre forward department, and Rennes unceremoniously shipped him back to Germany on a loan move to Stuttgart.

For the very first time in his career, Serhou Guirassy was nominated for the #BallondOr - he finished 21st...

His career path: Laval, Lille, Auxerre, Köln, Amiens, Rennes, Stuttgart... now Dortmund.

At the age of 29, Guirassy is now up there with the best. Never give up🇬🇳❤️ pic.twitter.com/BRilP68CP8

— BRAH PUNTERS ODDS⚽🇿🇦 (@SoccerWinOdds) September 22, 2025

Guirassy must have taken this personally, because ever since, it seems he has been doing everything in his power to make his ex-club regret that decision. His first season saw him perform at an exceptionally high level - he netted 14 goals in 28 games despite his side finishing in the relegation play-off position, and he scored a vital goal as Stuttgart retained their Bundesliga status with a convincing two-legged trouncing of Hamburger.

Guirassy had finally made the step up from time-to-time goalscorer to top-flight regular, and the German club secured his signature permanently that summer for the bargain fee of £8 million. Nevertheless, they were still one of the favourites for relegation in the 2023/24 season, having survived by the skin of their teeth the previous campaign.

However, what came next from both Stuttgart and Guirassy himself would shock Europe.

The Guinean suddenly became unstoppable - in all competitions, he would score 30 goals in 30 games, including 28 in 28 Bundesliga fixtures, and were it not for the eye-watering 36 goals of Harry Kane, he would have comfortably won the golden boot.

It was a flabbergasting turnaround; Guirassy oozed confidence, had taken his finishing to the next level, and always found himself in the right place at the right time. Anyone averaging a goal per game for an entire season is clearly doing something right.

Guirassy’s goals fired Stuttgart to a second-placed finish, astonishingly finishing ahead of Bayern Munich as Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen romped to an invincible league and cup double, and in the process secured the club their first Champions League campaign since 09/10.

Two seasons ago, Serhou Guirassy scored 30 goals in 30 games to lead Stuttgart to Champions League qualification.

Last season, he scored 38 goals in 50 matches for Borussia Dortmund.

What's next up for Guirassy? @phenomakpan: https://t.co/XXNf0p7soC pic.twitter.com/spXvJQB45z

— Breaking The Lines (@BTLvid) August 28, 2025

Unfortunately for the German club, Guirassy would not stay long enough to see them eliminated in the league phase stage, as that summer, Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund started to make enquiries about the forward, eventually for what has so far proven to be a bargain price of £15 million.

The Summit of the Game … So Far?

Though Guirassy was no doubt a potent finisher in his final season at Stuttgart, there was always a danger that he would become yet another one-season wonder tipped for big things, only to crumble when finally given the spotlight.

However, Guirassy ate that pressure for breakfast and shockingly managed to outscore his tally from the previous season, scoring 34 times in 45 games as Dortmund secured Champions League football for the 25/26 season.

His Champions League exploits were equally as impressive - in Dortmund’s run to the quarter-finals of the competition, Guirassy scored 13 goals in 14 games, including three braces and a stunning hat trick against Barcelona to oh so nearly complete a remarkable second-leg comeback.

His scoring feats in Europe earned him the first piece of silverware of his career - the Champions League golden boot, which has been held by the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Kaká and Shevchenko. Rubbing shoulders with former Ballon d’Or winners is certainly the sort of company Guirassy will want to become familiar with.

📸 Serhou Guirassy | UCL Golden Boot 24-25 🌟 pic.twitter.com/p7KLVsIi49

— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) September 15, 2025

Conveniently, his fantastic first season in Dortmund colours also resulted in his first ever Ballon d’Or nomination, and while the likes of Lamine Yamal, Vitinha and winner Ousmane Dembele were never going to be bested by a player knocked out in the UCL quarter-finals, Guirassy’s 21st place finish was a marker of how far he has come since those early days at Stade Lavallois.

And that brings us nicely to the present day, where the Guinean is now, by universal agreement, one of the best strikers in the world. This season alone, he has 11 goals in 18 games along with three assists, and he once again looked primed to mount another assault on a host of individual awards.

100 goals in the Top 5 Leagues for Guirassy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hulvgvB6jc

— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) November 3, 2025

The issue with being at Dortmund is that they will never be the favourites for any given trophy as long as Bayern Munich are still contesting for it, and as we know, this is the one thing missing from Guirassy’s CV: trophies.

The striker is the complete package: his 187 cm frame makes him a menacing adversary in the air, his first touch and dribbling are exceptional for such a tall forward, and his finishing gets better and better with each passing game. Combining those with his turn of pace, overpowering physicality and underrated football IQ, he has everything in the toolbox to become a starting striker for any team in the world.

He seems purpose-built for the Premier League - the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham would all thrive off his ability to hold up the ball - while Spain also seems a realistic destination, with Robert Lewandowski surely only capable of going for so long.

Stop that Serhou Guirassy. pic.twitter.com/Af0oIkeT6o

— Stop That Football (@stopthatfooty) September 3, 2025

However, time is not on his side - at 29, he needs a big move now, or it may never come. His journeyman path took valuable time away from his peak, and while he is still on the right side of 30, value and the potential to be a long-term solution both plummet once that number is reached.

Though Haaland, Kane and Mbappe may have outscored him up to now this season, there is no doubt that he is operating a genuinely world-class level, and perhaps a big move is all that is now required for him to unlock the final, unstoppable version of himself.

Guirassy’s story is one of resilience, patience and picking the right moment - now, we can only hope that he gets the move he so thoroughly deserves.