Mika Biereth: Monaco’s Next Top Striker?
Mika Biereth was one of the most talked about young players in Europe last season. The Danish forward scored 13 times in 19 games for AS Monaco following his January transfer from Austrian outfit Sturm Graz. Unfortunately though, Biereth has struggled to find form this season, but what are his biggest qualities, and does he still have what it takes to make it to the top?
Career so far
Mika Biereth’s career path hasn’t been straightforward so far. The 22 year-old first made a name for himself at Fulham. During the 2020/21 season, Biereth scored a whopping 22 goals in just 23 games for Fulham U18s, and also registered 13 assists. This attracted interest from Arsenal, who signed Biereth in the summer of 2021.
Unfortunately though, Biereth struggled to break into Arsenal’s first team and never made a senior appearance for the Gunners. He went on loan three times. First to the Eredivisie where he played for RKC Waalwijk during the 2022/23 season. For the first half of the 2023/24 season, he went to Scotland where he played for Motherwell and this is where he started to find his feet in professional football. He scored 6 goals and registered 5 assists in just 15 games. In January of that season, Biereth left Motherwell to join Sturm Graz on an initial loan, which eventually became a permanent move in the summer.
After an impressive 12 months in Austria, AS Monaco agreed a deal to bring Biereth to Ligue 1. He got off to a flying start, scoring 13 goals in just 19 games following his January transfer. Biereth, however, has only scored once so far this season and is no longer a guaranteed starter.
Strengths
One of Biereth’s biggest strengths is his movement in and around the penalty box. He likes to position himself between the two centre-backs, and he is excellent at making perfectly timed runs on the blindside of either centre-back to get onto the end of passes played into the box by his teammates.
Biereth is the type of striker who just stays as central as possible next to the centre-backs. Instead, he likes dragging the centre-backs out of position by making runs into the channels and half-spaces. He has good speed and likes making runs to attack the space in behind.
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The Danish forward works really hard, both with his runs off the ball when Monaco are on the ball and in the high-press. He has good awareness to close passing lanes and presses with purpose and intensity, even if he doesn’t actually force many turnovers.
Biereth’s link-up play is also extremely good. Generally, he’s technically quite impressive. His first touch is excellent and he’s very good at controlling the ball with his chest. When he has the ball in the penalty box in the half-spaces, he almost always looks to play a cut-back rather than create a shooting opportunity for himself. When in deeper areas, he’s shown that he has a fairly nice passing range to find players who are out wide.
Biereth’s finishing is also very good. Last season in Ligue 1, he scored 13 goals from an xG (expected goals) of 11.3, which is a healthy over performance. He’s composed in front of goal and has a knack for finding corners.
Weaknesses
Most of Biereth’s weaknesses come when he has to play with his back to goal. Against physically dominant centre-backs, and there are many of those in Ligue 1, he struggles.
Often with long-balls, Biereth won’t even contest the aerial duel against a centre-back who’s taller and stronger. When he receives the ball with his back to goal and a centre-back behind him, he is often easily dispossessed as he struggles to hold them off.
Last season in Ligue 1, he only won 41,5% of his ground duels and only 39,6% of his aerial duels. And again, often he doesn’t even contest aerial duels against physically dominant centre-backs.
Biereth also doesn’t score many headers, which is another element of his game that could use improvement. His ability in the air is definitely a point of concern. He is 1,87m (6ft 1in), so it’s not like he doesn’t have the height to reliably win duels in the air.
Does have what it takes to become one of the best strikers in Europe?
Biereth’s talent is undeniable. While he definitely has weaknesses in the air and with his back to goal, the other aspects of his game, like finishing, movement, his timing of runs and link-up play are all outstanding.
If he wants to move back to England eventually, the physical side of his game will have to improve, and Ligue 1 is the ideal place for him to develop that part of his game, as it’s quite similar to the Premier League in terms of physicality.
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He has struggled this season, but that’s likely more a confidence and circumstance issue, rather than anything to do with his ability. Monaco parted ways with Adi Hütter, and it’s normal that when a new manager comes in, there are some players who fall out of favour.
Biereth’s many competitor, Folarin Balogun, has only 3 goals so far this season, so the starting position is still there for Biereth to make his own. Last season, everything he touched turned into gold. He’s now under pressure and struggling. The coming months will show how mentally strong he is. The talent is there and it’s completely normal for a player of his age and experience to have dips in form. He can certainly still become one of Europe’s best centre-forwards in the coming years.
By: Noah Piltie
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Mark Scates – SNS Group