Best Alternatives to Marko Arnautovic

Playing Style Analysis

Arnautovic remains one of European football's most paradoxical forwards—a player whose statistical fingerprint at 35 still refuses to read like a man winding down. His aerial numbers tell the clearest story: landing in the top 20% of Europa League attackers for aerials won per 90, he offers a physical reference point that most modern forwards have abandoned entirely. The counterintuitive detail is his key pass rate—above average in this competition—suggesting a player more involved in construction than his bruising profile implies. The three closest DNA matches to Marko Arnautovic:

• Enes Ünal(83% match) — Ünal is the kind of striker Premier League defenders quietly dread—a physical menace in the air who backs it up with real end product. His aerial win rate sits in the top 5% of forwards in this division, and crucially, those duels are translating: 5.68 aerials won per 90 is not a volume stat, it's dominance.
• Andrej Ilic(82% match) — A Target Man. Statistically, he stands out as a capable chance creator (1.2 key passes/90), a constant goal threat (2.9 shots/90), a regular goalscorer (0.20 goals/90), a prolific assist provider (0.40 assists/90) and strong in aerial duels (6.8 aerials won/90).
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang(82% match) — A Complete Forward. Statistically, he stands out as a capable chance creator (1.1 key passes/90), a constant goal threat (2.6 shots/90), a proven goalscorer (0.44 goals/90) and a reliable supplier (0.22 assists/90).

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