Thierry Henry (4) and Alan Shearer (3) remain the players to have won the accolade the most times in the reformatted League system in England, and Harry Kane was the most recent winner with his 25 strikes in the 2015-16 campaign.
Jamie Vardy’s 24 strikes were imperative in helping Leicester pull off the most stupendous upset to win the League last year. Meanwhile, Jermain Defoe and Odion Ighalo’s 15 goals for Sunderland and Watford respectively were crucial in helping their teams steer clear of relegation.
We take a look at the early contenders for the Golden Boot this year, in what promises to be an ultra-competitive season of English football. Whoever emerges as the top scorer out of these players could be instrumental in deciding where the Premier League trophy goes.
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
When you’ve won the top scorer award a total of 5 times in Serie A and Ligue 1, and bagged more than 300 league goals in your career, you’re bound to find yourself on a list like this. Soon to be 35 years old, there remain doubts on how quickly Zlatan will settle in a new league that has more hustle than anything he’s probably used to, but if Zlatan settles like we know he can expect him to swat away the league’s defenders and bang in the goals.
With the service of Henrikh Mkhitaryan buzzing behind him and the lively and skillful Anthony Martial playing off the Swede, it’s not inconceivable that Zlatan could drag United to the Premier League trophy. He didn’t have the best of games in the Community Shield match against Leicester but turned up when it mattered to score the winner.
#2 Harry Kane
It didn’t take long for the critics to get on Kane’s back when he didn’t find the net in the beginning of Spurs 2015-16 season, but he proved he wasn’t a season one wonder in magnificent style by winning the golden boot in what was a memorable campaign for Spurs. It had taken 16 years for an Englishman to win the award since Kevin Phillips won it during his spell with Sunderland. He has now certainly etched his name amongst the best players in the division.
Kane’s league record now reads 49 goals in 83 appearances, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be amongst the goals again. Erik Lamela’s ascending form in England and Dele Alli’s emergence mean that Kane will have plenty of service. With Christian Eriksen also amongst the ranks at White Hart Lane, it should just make his job just a tad bit easier.
#3 Sergio Aguero
At 28 years old, Aguero should now be entering his prime. That might sound odd for someone who already has 260 career goals in 498 games, but such is the talent of the Argentina striker that you still feel he has another level to reach. Constant niggling injuries have often hampered him in gathering momentum, and it is a measure of his talent that he has still managed to score consistently throughout his career.
If he stays fit during the course of the season, Aguero could easily hit 30+ goals under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola and blow away his competition. It helps that he’ll have Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, David Silva and Gabriel Jesus (joins in January) looking to set up goals for him.
#4 Jamie Vardy
After Leicester’s incredible success last year, a look at the media’s predictions for the upcoming season doesn’t even have them in the Champions League slots. In a way it shows what a stunning achievement they pulled off to win the title last year, while it also reflects that this year is only going to be harder for Ranieri’s side. The fact remains though that they’ve retained Riyad Mahrez, an absolutely gorgeous footballer and assist provider and also added the speedster Ahmed Musa to accompany Vardy on the other flank.
This 3 pronged attack has the ability to cause plenty of damage to Premier League defenses and Vardy should have plenty of opportunities to win the prize he missed out on so narrowly last year. It’ll be an important campaign for him, and he’ll hope to have a successful year so that he doesn’t regret snubbing Arsenal.
#5 Diego Costa
It was tricky picking the last contender for this list, but Diego Costa is more than a worthy addition.
It’s still far from certain he’ll remain at Chelsea for the upcoming season but Antonio Conte seems keen on keeping him and has warded off all transfer rumours. Even in Chelsea’s awful season last year, Costa managed to score 12 league goals in 28 appearances.
Conte knows how to get the best out of each and every one of his players, the Italian got the absolute maximum out of Graziano Pelle and Eder for Italy in the Euros and won the Scudetto with Alessandro Matri and Quagliarella, so think of what he could for Diego Costa, a player who has already shown his prowess in England. This could well be his season, again.
Honourable Mentions :
Daniel Sturridge, if he stays injury free could bang in the goals for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The Anfield side should be buzzing under the former Dortmund manager and will surely score plenty of goals. Can Sturridge be consistently among them, is the question.
Romelu Lukaku, still has a lot of room to improve, and when you consider he has 60 Premier League goals in 139 appearances already, and is only 23 years old, you can only assert that he has tremendous potential. Can he finally announce his presence on the International stage under Ronald Koeman?
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