Best La Liga Forwards of 2021

La Liga’s new season is well on its way and as always the Spanish league has delivered on being one of the most entertaining leagues in Europe. And usually in football when there is talk of excitement and entertainment, forward players are involved. Although Messi and Ronaldo used to dominate La Liga in terms of goals and assists each year, now with Ronaldo gone and Messi having a slow season, by his own standards, there is ample opportunity for a host of new faces to show themselves as the

best La Liga forwards of 2021

.

Obviously when talking about the best forwards in any competition, goals are the most important factor but we wouldn’t be painting the whole picture if we didn’t also include assists, which are just as important as scoring goals. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the best La Liga forwards of this season:

Top Forwards in La Liga This Season

We have tried not to rank the top forwards in La Liga this season as the season has a long way to go yet but these players listed below are all in serious contention to be the best. So let’s see who they are:

Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid)

A product of Real Madrid’s youth academy,

is the first player to feature in our list of

best La Liga forwards of this season

. Making his first appearance for Real Madrid in 2015, Llorente was never in Real Madrid and Zidane’s plans so he decided to switch sides and join their rivals Atletico at the start of last year and despite having a great season last year, where he scored twice at Anfield as

knocked the Premier League champions out of the competition, Llorente seems to truly reach his best in his second season at Atletico.

Although he used to play in deeper roles as a defensive midfielder or even a deep-lying playmaker, since joining Atletico, Diego Simeone has been using him in more advanced roles as either a box to box playmaker or even a second striker in his 4-4-2 system which seems to greatly complement Llorente’s ability to both score and create opportunities for his teammates that either end up as a goal or is straight up an assist.

With 6 goals and 5 assists to his name, Llorente is joint second in La Liga in the amount of assists he has provided. He also has 1.1 shots per game in each match that is the lowest among the

greatest La Liga forwards of 2020-21 season

which means that although his shot accuracy is high, he will benefit from shooting more which could lead to more goals for him and his team. All in all, Llorente’s performances is a solid place to be the benchmark for our list and he is one of the reasons Ateltico is so far ahead of other teams in the race for the title.

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Roger Marti (Levante)

Roger Marti has been

’s star player in the past few years and it seems like he has taken his game to a new level this season because he has already scored almost as much as he did last season despite the season barely reaching its halfway point. In fact, Levante has been having a great season, by their standards, and

, who is one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021 is a big part of that.

Originally a Valencia academy player, Marti found his way to first team football through Levante as he joined the Granotas back in 2011. A couple of loan deals later and a couple of seasons in the Segudna division helped Marti learn his trade as a goal scorer and he has been scoring regularly since they got back to La Liga.

Having scored 13 and 11 in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons respectively, Marti has now improved his game as he has already scored 9 goals this seasons as well as assisting 2 other goals. He might benefit from having more shots at goal, seeing he has only 1.4 shots per game, which is quite a low figure for a forward. Barring any serious injury, Marti is set to break his own personal record of 13 goals in a single season easily. As of yet he is one of the

best La Liga forwards of 2021

but there is still a long way to go this season!

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Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad)

Although Sociedad has been on a bad run of form lately, they started the season great and are still 6th on the table all thanks to one of their star performers,

. Sociedad’s captain has steadily turned in great performances season after season, usually scoring more than 15 goals a season, in all competitions. And this season has been no different as he has become one of the

current greatest La Liga forwards

.

Being a product of Sociedad’s own academy, their No. 10 is a great support striker who can both create chances and is very skilled at finishing the chances that are presented to him by his teammates. His pace also allows him to be very deadly on the counter attacks, which is where he usually does the most damage. He is also adept at taking set-pieces whether to score or to cross and create chances. All of which has earned him more than 10 caps over the past 4 or 5 years, which is a great achievement for a

player.

And like his skill set suggests, Oyarzabal has been successful at both assisting goals and scoring them this season which makes him one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021. Although Oyarzabal has had the least amount of playing time among the players on our list, his 8 goals and 4 assists has contributed heavily to Sociedad’s current points tally and league standings in this season and they rely on him to continue his performances in the second half of the season to take them out of the recent bad form they’ve been experiencing.

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Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)

Celta Vigo’s main man has been a constant presence among the best forwards of La Liga in the past several seasons and this season is no different as

has once again proved his goal scoring prowess and has become one of the

top forwards in La Liga this season

. Although this time around he has added something extra to his game, which is providing assists for his teammates which makes him the top assist provider in La Liga!

Barring the two one-season spells Iago Aspas has spent at Liverpool and Sevilla, the rest of his career has been spent at the

football club, having joined their reserve team in 2006 and subsequently spending several seasons at the Segunda Division. Since then, Aspas has been perhas La Liga’s best player outside the big three teams in the league, and he has done that consistently season after season.

This season has been no different than Aspas’ several past seasons as he has scored 9 goals and has also provided a further 6 assists. As of now he is the joint assist provider with Angel Correa of Atletico and considering that Correa plays for a team at the top of the table, Aspas seems to punch well above his weight, which seems to be one of his attributes. Currently Celta sits comfortably at middle of the La Liga table and their form in the second half of the season may entirely rest upon their captain and one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021, Iago Aspas!

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Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Up until two seasons ago,

had never been a prolific goal scorer who scores 30+ goals a season and he didn't need to be because that was Cristiano Ronaldo's job but now with him gone, Benzema's responsibility, as the main source of goals for Real Madrid, has gotten bigger. Fortunately for los Blancos, Benzema has taken up the challenge and has put in brilliant performances consistently in the past two seasons. So as is been his habit recently, Benzema has once again been one of the best La Liga players and one of the greatest La Liga forwards of 2020-21 season.

Alongside Sergio Ramos, Benzema are the two most senior players in

's squad and a remnant of a great team that won 4 Champions League titles. The Frenchman has always been a talented player but perhaps he has lacked that certain polish that the best center forwards have in front of the goal, with him being almost infamous for missing easy chances. But he seems to have find the net more and more these days and has taken up a lot more leadership responsibilities in the team, driving his team in attack.

As of the end of the 21st week of La Liga, Benzema has scored 10 goals in La Liga but he is also the joint 2nd to assister in the league, which is further proof of him leading most of Real Madrid's attack, whether with assists or being on the receiving end of one, scoring. He is undoubtedly one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021 and if Real Madrid are ever to get back to winning ways, Benzema must continue scoring goals.

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Gerrard Moreno (Villareal)

Just like Oyarzabal and Marti,

has been steadily becoming a constant inclusion on the best La Liga goal scorers list and just like those two players he has paid his dues, through loans and times at lower divisions, to be here. It all culminated in last season’s Zarra Trophy (given to the best Spanish goal scorer in La Liga every season), after he scored 18 goals and this season has been no different as he is among the

2020-21 best La Liga forwards

.

In a way

seems to be the perfect project for the former PSG and Arsenal manager as Unai Emery is used to bringing teams with smaller budgets to relative success and place in the European competitions. He has been doing just that, the way he did it back at Valencia, and Gerrard Moreno has been an absolute key figure in Emery’s plans. The forward, in turn, hasn’t disappointed Emery and has delivered on his role as a goal scorer once again with a couple of assists thrown in there!

Moreno has managed to score 10 goals this season as well as providing 2 assists. His shots per game ratio is 3.1 which is one of the best in the league and his dribbling ability as well the more creative side of his game has helped Villareal out of many tight spaces.

He seems to have been on a roll recently as he has displayed 3 Man of the Match performances in the past 5 Villareal matches in La Liga, which rightfully earns him a spot among the best La Liga forwards of 2021. He’s been earning several caps for Spain too and who knows? Maybe if he keeps this up, he may even be in the next Euro Squad for Spain.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

The saga of Lionel Messi wanting to leave Barcelona in the summer has been well-documented and much talked about in the past few months. With the Alien's contract coming to an end in the upcoming summer, his days are numbered but let's focus on his performances after the public spat he had with the club and let’s see how absolutely professional he has been ever since, never taking his foot from the gas and being one of the top forwards in La Liga this season, like he has been every season.

Although

himself has stated that he wants to play a deeper and creative role, acting as Barcelona’s playmaker rather than their target man,

has relied heavily upon his goals and this season has been no different. Despite the claims that he lacks the intensity he had in previous years this season, which is a valid observation to some extent, the Argentine striker has yet again been a main source of goals and assists this season.

Although Messi started the season quite slowly, going through a run of games in which he didn’t score any goal from open play and only from penalties, he and Barca have been on a roll lately, with them winning 5 of their last 6 games in La Liga. Despite Messi’s impressive record of 20 assists last season and his desire to be more creative, his number of assists has been quite low, although he has been heavily influential on the build up to any Barcelona goal.

With 12 goals and 2 assists this season, Lionel Messi is second, only behind Luis Suarez, in the top goal scorers of La Liga which makes him one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021. With a staggering average of 5.8 shots per game Messi has almost double the amount of the 2nd placed Luis Suarez. If this season is to be Messi’s Swan Song in the Barcelona shirt, then he has come half of the way with his head held high, albeit his performances hasn’t been the same as before. But there is still half a season to go, and the Alien might still turn in some magical performances yet and lead Barcelona to glory like he has done so many times before!

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Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla)

If we were to pick only one genuine break-out star in La Liga this season, it would have to be Sevilla’s

, who has taken everyone by surprise and is competing with the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. The Moroccan forward has steadily worked his way through La Liga to one of its best teams and current Europa League Champions, Sevilla, and he hasn’t let this great chance slip but instead he has risen up to the task and has become one of the 2020-21 best La Liga forwards.

Despite being Moroccan, En-Nesyri joined Malaga’s academy back in 2015 when he was only 18. He soon found his way to the first team but never had a foothold there so he decided to leave and join Leganes in 2018, to gain more playing time and experience. And after a season and a half at Leganes, he caught the eye of

and the Andalusian side ended up paying €25 million to bring him to Sevilla.

Although the move took until this season to truly pay off, as En-Nesyri has went on to score 12 goals in the 1242 minutes that he has been on the pitch which means he has scored a goal almost every 100 minutes. He has also had 2 hat-tricks this season which is the most amount of hat-tricks by a single player in La Liga this season.

With him being only 23 years old and with the potential he has shown by becoming one of the best La Liga forwards of 2021, Sevilla hopes that En-Nesyri only gets better with experience. It’s interesting to see if this is a one-off season for him or will he produce the same numbers again next season.

Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid)

In one of the worst transfer deals that has happened in football in recent years, perhaps ever, Barcelona let go of one of their best ever players for free and handed him to on of their rivals in the league, Atletico Madrid. Although no one expected Suarez to show this level of performances, everyone knew that Barca had made a huge mistake, including Lionel Messi who admitted as such in his goodbye letter to his best friend Suarez. Nevertheless,

has since gone on to become one of the current greatest La Liga forwards to absolutely no one's surprise.

The Uruguayan feels to be right at home in a club that seems to be a kind of overseas home to South American players. With Diego Simeone in charge of

and with Suarez' addition to the team, Atletico seems almost rejuvenated despite the departure of a key player like Thomas Partey. But Suarez has swiftly become their target man and there are a couple of players in the world that could score as often and as stylish as el Pistolero himself.

Since joining Atletico Madrid, Suarez has scored 14 goals and provided 2 assists in 16 La Liga matches. Atletico is flying high in the league, 10 points ahead of the 2nd placed Barcelona with a game on hand, and they are set to win the La Liga, barring any disastrous run of form. By becoming one of the

best La Liga forwards of 2021

, if Suarez manages to make Atletico champions, he will then be taking revenge on Barcelona in the most poetic sense and us neutral football fans will be rejoicing in the drama!

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