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Analysis: A look at the top five strikers in Europe

The 2017/18 season has now reached its first pit-stop. Going into the second international break, fans and pundits are now able to make an early-season analysis of how things will shape up for their teams. A lot of the focus these days is on the strikers, the ones who make the teams tick in the final third. No doubt midfielders and defenders have their own importance. However, more often than not, it is the forwards that have won teams their points in the long-run of a domestic season.

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The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar have all broken scoring records time and again in the past. However, in this piece, we will only be talking about out and out forwards, the No.9’s and the poachers of teams. The onus is on these players to finish the chances provided. There have been many top strikers in recent times. But a few have stood out amongst the rest.

We take a look at those top players and make an analysis of their contributions in recent years.

5. Harry Kane – the next Jimmy Greaves?

Tottenham Hotspur hotshot and fast becoming England’s best young striker, Harry Kane has been sensational. The Englishman hasn’t had an easy start to his career. After four loan spells in England’s lower divisions, he finally broke through at Spurs in 2014. Since then he’s become a regular in the Spurs side and has been scoring goals almost for fun.

A regular tally of 20+ goals in the past two seasons for both club and country has led to a tally of about 83 goals for Kane. He hasn’t shown any signs of stopping in 2017 either.

Pochettino’s system of playing three at the back and three up top benefitted Kane greatly. The likes of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli have been superb alongside Kane. The duo has been scoring goals themselves as well as providing for Kane. Alli and Kane’s partnership especially has been a feature of Spurs’ play under Pochettino.

Kane hasn’t shown any signs of stopping in 2017 and is close to scoring more goals than Alan Shearer in a single year. Since breaking through in 2014, Kane has managed to bang in 83 goals. A consistent record of 20+ goals in each season as well as a handful of assists has elevated Kane’s status to one of the world’s best finishers.

Kane has been excellent so far this season, only second to Romelu Lukaku in the scoring charts in the league.

His overall ability and professional attitude have made him an exemplary player. Kane’s hard-work in his early years as a youngster is now showing in his style of play. He isn’t someone who’s always a target man. Kane is also willing to link up with the midfield when required or set up goals for the likes of Eriksen and Alli.

4. Edinson Cavani – PSG’s South American Sniper

It seems as though Edinson Cavani has been around forever. The Uruguayan established himself as one of the top goal-scorers in the Serie A with Napoli and Palermo. However, his move to PSG in the summer of 2013 has taken him to another level in terms of goal-scoring contributions. He became PSG’s record signing and the most expensive player in Ligue 1 history.

In Paris, for three seasons, Cavani remained in the shadows of club star Zlatan Ibrahimović. Although the pair denied that there were problems, Cavani always seemed unsure of himself when the Swede was around. He had to shift out to the wings so that the manager could accommodate Zlatan into the team. However, since Zlatan’s departure, Cavani has shown what he can truly do for PSG.

Apart from his impressive stats, the Uruguayan is also a selfless player. He has the ability to link-up with players much faster than himself. PSG as a club have always had excellent talent in their ranks and for Cavani, it is only a bonus to have players of such quality around him, assisting him and helping him get better, game by game.

Cavani now has the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe alongside him in the attack.

There is no doubt that he is one of the best around in the world. His contributions at times have been underrated, however, in this analysis, we have made sure that each of those goal-scorers gets the absolute credit that they deserve. It now seems as though the problems Cavani had with Neymar have been laid to rest. The duo should combine for the rest of the season and score goals for fun.

Cavani has tasted plenty of silverware so far in his PSG career and it doesn’t look as though the trophies are going to stop coming in, anytime soon.

3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Dortmund’s man of speed

Third on this analysis of the top-five strikers is Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon international has established himself as the fastest striker around. Apart from being known for his speed, the Gabon international is also a very clinical striker. He was moved to a more central role after moving to Dortmund and has flourished since then.

Since appearing as a teenager for AC Milan, Aubameyang was loaned out to four different clubs before he finally ended up at French club St.Etienne. It is there where he caught the eye of Dortmund’s scouts and he was quickly signed up by Jurgen Klopp, who was the manager then at Dortmund.

After scoring 16 goals in his debut season, Aubameyang picked up his speed and scored more and more in the coming seasons. Dortmund’s excellent recruitment has helped him even more. The likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ousmane Dembele and more importantly the ever-present Marco Reus have helped him bag goals season after season.

Aubameyang and Lewandowski have been the goal-scoring superstars of the Bundesliga at Dortmund and Bayern.

Since Robert Lewandowski’s move to Bayern Munich, Aubameyang has always been the Polish international’s main rival for the Bundesliga Golden Boot award. Last season it was Aubameyang who picked up the award, thanks to his 31 goals in the league. Despite Dembele’s move to Barcelona in the summer, Aubameyang’s goals seem to have remained unaffected, he is topping the scoring charts in 2017 and looks well set to have another productive season ahead.

Aubameyang came close to leaving Dortmund in the summer. His dream remains to play for Real Madrid one day, maybe Zinedine Zidane might grant the Gabon international his wishes. Since moving to Dortmund, Aubameyang has won the DFL-Supercup twice and the DFB-Pokal once, which was last season.

2. Luis Suarez – Barcelona’s Uruguayan goal-machine

Luis Suarez is a man of many talents. The Uruguayan may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no denying the talent this man is blessed with. Ever since moving to Barcelona in 2015, Suarez has truly become a world-class centre-forward, with an uncanny ability to score in any and every situation.

Since his early days at Groningen and then Ajax, Suarez has always had an excellent goals-to-games ratio. His move to Liverpool was when pundits actually started taking notice of him. His final season at Anfield, he led the club’s charge for the league title and came very close to winning it, however, a few poor results towards the end spoiled his dreams of winning the Premier League. That’s when he decided to make the move to Catalunya.

His record since moving to Barcelona speaks for itself. He isn’t just a goal-scorer but also a creator for his team-mates. This quality of his made him perfect for Barcelona’s style of play. He was part of the formidable MSN trio of Messi, Neymar and himself, that achieved a trio in Luis Enrique’s first season in charge of the club. His antics on the pitch have been forgotten and now the Uruguayan is famous for his goals, assists and for his style of play.

Taking this season into account and his past two seasons as well, Suarez has scored a staggering total of 101 goals for club and country. All this has happened since his move to Barcelona, which has undoubtedly improved him greatly. He’s had a slow start to 2017 due to his injury issues, however, there is no doubt that once he’s back to full fitness, he will return to his best form.

1. Robert Lewandowski – Bayern’s epitome of consistency

The No.1 on this analysis is none other than Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski. Since moving to the Bundesliga from Lech Poznan, he has become one of the most consistent strikers in world football. He enjoyed back to back Bundesliga trophies with Dortmund as well as a UEFA Champions League final appearance, where they lost to Bayern in extra time.

In 2014, Lewandowski moved to Bayern on a free transfer. His decision did not go down well with the Dortmund supporters; however, the move was ultimately beneficial for both parties. Since moving to Bavaria, Lewandowski has enjoyed three straight title-winning campaigns as well as multiple golden boot awards, competing with Aubameyang most of the time for the prize.

If his tally of this season and the past two is calculated, the Pole has scored an astonishing 117 goals in three seasons for both club and country.

Lewandowski has enjoyed playing a vast array of talent at the Allianz Arena. He’s also been managed by two of the modern game managing greats in Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti. With the likes of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery by his side, no wonder Lewandowski has been consistently putting the ball into the back of the net. His chemistry with Thomas Muller is a particular delight to watch on the field.

Lewandowski has begun this season in clinical fashion once again.

He’s back at his goal-scoring best in 2017 as well and is determined to take back the golden boot from Aubameyang by the end of the season, this battle between the two is certainly an exciting one. Bayern fans will be hoping that the Gabonese forward keeps motivating Lewandowski to do more and more.

Honorable mentions

Some of the strikers who didn’t make the cut despite being excellent in the past three seasons are as follows –

Romelu Lukaku – Lukaku’s goal scoring exploits in the Premier League have continued with Manchester United. He scored over 70 goals in his time at Everton and became their record goal scorer of the Premier League era. His goal tally is all the more impressive given the lack of world-class talent he had alongside him at Goodison Park. Now at Man Utd, he has made a blistering start to his Old Trafford career and will be hoping to beat Kane to the golden boot this time around.

Gonzalo Higuain – A very close contender for this list, Higuain’s goals have continued to flow in Turin. He had an excellent season with Napoli before making a record transfer to Juventus complete. Especially with the likes of Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic around him, the Argentinian hasn’t felt the pressure of being a lone-goalscorer.

Radamel Falcao – The Colombian is back to his best now at AS Monaco. After a disappointing spell in English football, he returned to Monaco in 2016. A true goal-scoring legend for Atletico Madrid and Porto in the UEFA Europa League, El Tigre led Monaco to the Ligue 1 title last season and has continued to get even better with time in 2017.

Zlatan Ibrahimović – How can we forget this man, the Swede is unmissable and was a close contender for this list as well. Now well into his late 30’s, nobody expected Zlatan to do as well as he did in English football. His goals led United to the Europa League trophy as well as success in the EFL Cup. Not satisfied with his performances in the 2016-17 season, Zlatan signed another contract with United in the summer and is working hard on his fitness to get back in time to help United in the second half of the season.

Sergio Kun Aguero – Manchester City’s second all-time top scorer, Sergio Kun Aguero is another player that has been superb over the past few seasons. He has been regarded by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as the only ‘world-class’ forward in English football. The Argentine is on 176 goals for City since joining in 2011, that’s quite a record when you consider his injury record as well. Since Guardiola’s taken over, he’s had to adjust to a new style. However, now that City has so much attacking talent, the burden has reduced on the former Atletico Madrid man.

Author’s take

It was hard to pick out five strikers for this analysis. Even more so because it is hard to pick out particular parameters to judge how good a striker has been for his respective team. However, these five strikers have undoubtedly been five of the top strikers around in some time and will continue to keep scoring goals at the top level for the foreseeable future.

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