Real Madrid had a woeful 2024/25 season by their standards, coming up empty-handed in the silverware department while getting embarrassed by Barcelona in all four Clasicos, which proved to be decisive in the Merengues missing out on every single available trophy domestically.
Although new signing Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Shoe as Europe's leading scorer and broke the record for most goals by a Real Madrid player in their maiden season, the rest of the Real Madrid attack was poor.
Rodrygo Goes was a massive disappointment with a paltry 11 goal contributions in league play, while Vinicius Junior was the only other Madrid player with double-digit goals. And nobody reached 10 assists, with Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr. tying for the team lead with eight.
Real Madrid have already added two starting-caliber defenders to their squad this summer in Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Premier League fame, and while attacking talent isn't the main need, a top-class striker with experience who can take a scoring burden off Mbappe or facilitate chances for the others could be a major benefit to Real Madrid.
Madridistas saw how decisive Joselu was for the club in the 2023/24 season. That campaign, especially the Champions League one, could have ended up very differently without Joselu's consistency and timely heroics.
Marseille CF Amine Gouiri
Ante Budimir of Osasuna is a proven LaLiga goal-scorer, but there are alternatives worth exploring outside of Spain with more raw talent and upside. The first is less of a pure scorer, but he is someone Real Madrid looked into years ago after winning their first Champions League of Carlo Ancelotti's second stint as manager.
Back in 2022, Real Madrid were eyeing well-rounded strikers with a favorable profile to Karim Benzema who could eventually replace the French-Algerian striker, and they settled on Amine Gouiri of Rennes as one to watch.
The 25-year-old Gouiri never made it to Real Madrid, but in the second half of the 2024/25 season, Marseille picked up the well-rounded No. 9 and he went on a tear. Gouiri scored 10 goals in 12 starts, showing an improved eye for goal. The man could not miss, and he added sharp-shooting to his all-around game with an additional two key passes per game for OM.
Gouiri could be a strong option as a possible 9 with Mbappe or Vinicius on the left wing, or he could play in two-striker formations alongside either of those world-class players - or even the young Endrick in the Copa del Rey games.
Dortmund ST Serhou Guirassy
Serhou Guirassy is more of a goal-scorer than Gouiri but still has a solid all-around game. Fitting under the descriptor of a veteran goal-scorer, Guirassy is a 29-year-old marksman who first took the Bundesliga by storm in the 2022/23 season, practically willing Stuttgart to survive relegation.
Then, he followed that up with a career year with 28 Bundesliga goals, two key passes per game, and two fouls drawn per match in a season that only Bayern Munich's Harry Kane could surpass.
The Guinean international parlayed that season into a move to Germany's second-biggest club, and without Guirassy, there's no way Dortmund would have saved Champions League football for themselves.
Guirassy was everything to BVB, scoring 21 goals and creating chances out of sheer nothingness for an otherwise doomed Dortmund. His penchant for holding up play, scoring goals, and sniffing out chances from nothing could serve Real Madrid perfectly in a veteran backup role.
Atalanta ST Mateo Retegui
Finally, Mateo Retegui is a pure goal-scorer worth looking into. He was one of Europe's leading goal-scorers last season for Atalanta, finding the back of the net 25 times while improving significantly as an all-around forward with 8 assists.
Always tabbed as the next big thing at striker in Italian football, Retegui even impressed head-to-head in the Champions League against Real Madrid. The 26-year-old is one of the best strikers in Serie A and Europe as a whole, and he could be an undervalued addition to the Real Madrid attack as an out-and-out 9.