Inside Football With Benni McCarthy: The 5 best strikers for the 2015/16 Premier League season

With 80 caps for his country, Benni McCarthy became the first South African to score in the World Cup finals and the first to become a Champions League winner. Now a resident of Edinburgh where he’s doing his coaching badges, the former Seven Stars, Ajax, Celta Vigo, Porto, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and Orlando Pirates forward knows how to spot a striker. Here, he writes about his best five forwards for the 2015/16 Premier League season.

1. Kun (Sergio) Aguero of Manchester City is the best striker in the Premier League. His technical ability, his awareness in games and his knowledge of where to run makes him stand out, as does his strength and his unbelievable goalscoring ability. He can score from nothing. He’s as good as (Thierry) Henry, (Dennis) Bergkamp, (Andy) Cole and (Dwight) Yorke.

On one hand I’m surprised he’s stayed at City because top strikers, especially Spanish speaking ones like him, tend to gravitate to Madrid or Barcelona, but he’s had success in England where he’s the main man for a team that has won the league and has been a title contender almost since they came into money.

If you have that in the Premier League – plus a big salary like he has – then I don’t see why you need to go to Spain.

2. I know he was expensive, but Liverpool did very good business when they signed Christian Benteke from Aston Villa. He’s the ideal number nine and can handle himself against the best in the game – the Terrys, Kompanys and Cahills. Trust me, you know your story when you play against these boys.

He can handle the physical side and he’s got scarily good technique for a big man. He plays the ball well and is so much more than a powerhouse who is strong in the air. Benteke holds defenders up well; he takes pressure off his team by providing an outlet when they’re under pressure. Every team needs that at some point in the game and if they know they can get Benteke the ball, then it gives them time to breathe – or even counter attack.

But what Benteke does best is score great goals and he would have been a fine signing for Manchester United - he’s just what United need to free Rooney up. But United’s great rivals Liverpool got him and he’s good enough to make them a top four side.

3. This might surprise you but Stoke City’s Ibrahim Affelay is a forward I like very much. He’s not being used in his best position and is played on the wing for Stoke. My old boss Mark Hughes should play him in the middle as a 9 or 10. Affelay is quick, knows where the goal is and is skilful with a bag of tricks.

He comes from the PSV academy, the second best in Holland after my old one at Ajax. We really respected them, but couldn’t understand how they kept getting amazing Brazilians. Don’t forget that Ronaldo had been at PSV. The Eindhoven team would get them in their side, play them for a season or two and then sell them on. It’s a superb structure at a very well organised club. Georginio Wijnaldum, Newcastle’s new signing, was at PSV. He’s an excellent signing.

Pep Guardiola liked Affelay enough to sign him, but he never found his way at Barçelona. It was like Guardiola preferred Spanish players and loan moves to Schalke and Olympiakos didn’t really work, yet Affelay has played 50 times for Holland, one of the best teams in the world. At 29, he’s at his peak and the English game will suit him.

4. Memphis (Depay). Another player from the PSV academy, he’s a young exciting player who will bring more to Manchester United than Angel di Maria did. He (Di Maria) chose the easy option and left, but Memphis will make people forget him quickly.

He’s got a bag full of tricks and he’s goal threat who proved that last season by finishing top of the Eredivisie.

He’s come from a culture of total football, with smart and intelligent players. You have to be extraordinary to beat them. He did. The Dutch league is weaker but they play better football than in the Premier League.

Old Trafford is intimidating for any player so you have to give Memphis a chance in England, but he’s surrounded by marvellous players like (Wayne) Rooney, (Michael) Carrick and (Bastian) Schweinsteiger. He’ll end up being a fantastic buy and I’d put him and Rooney up front. Louis van Gaal has enough faith to play them together and they could be really, really good. They need to be because United need to finish first or second at the worst!

5. You probably think I’m crazy for leaving out the strikers that people expect to do well: (Diego) Costa, (Olivier) Giroud, (Danny) Welbeck or (Alexis) Sanchez.

But I am because I want to find space for Rudy Gestede. He was at my former club Blackburn. He’s brave, strong, exceptional in the air and always a threat. If Villa can feed him like they did with Benteke last season, he’ll score as he did on Saturday at Bournemouth.

He’s no skinny, lanky striker, but he’s got meat on both feet and has top co-ordination too. Tim Sherwood makes these kind of players feel important and when a player feels important they play better football. Sherwood is smart like that – he did it with Benteke, while Emanuel Adebayor was dead and buried until Sherwood revived his game.

Rudy is 26 and it was his dream to play in the Premier League. He did that briefly with Cardiff, but Villa are a bigger club.

He’s full of running and terrorises defenders, holding the ball up against them and pulling them into channels where they don’t like to go. Watch out for him this season.