Best Alternatives to Josh Maja

Playing Style Analysis

Maja is the Championship’s premier connective tissue masquerading as a traditional number nine, a player whose value lies in the fluency he brings to a front line rather than raw penalty-box predation. While his scoring output of 0.17 per 90 is merely pedestrian, his 81.6% pass accuracy places him in the elite 10% of league forwards, functioning as a high-level fulcrum who facilitates rather than just finishes. The counterintuitive reality of his data is that despite a modest 1.63 shots per 90, he is a creative engine, sitting in the top 20% for key passes and volume of play. The three closest DNA matches to Josh Maja:

• Raúl Jiménez(82% match) — A Target Man. Statistically, he stands out as a capable chance creator (1.0 key passes/90), a constant goal threat (3.0 shots/90), a regular goalscorer (0.37 goals/90) and strong in aerial duels (3.5 aerials won/90).
• André Silva(81% match) — A Complete Forward. Statistically, he stands out as a capable chance creator (1.1 key passes/90), a constant goal threat (2.7 shots/90) and a proven goalscorer (0.44 goals/90).
• Lukas Nmecha(83% match) — A Target Man. Statistically, he stands out as a constant goal threat (2.5 shots/90), a proven goalscorer (0.50 goals/90) and top 20% scorer in the league.

Similarity uses per-90 performance across playing-style dimensions. How Player DNA matching works →