We may only be just over a month into the new season but already the race for Europe's golden shoe is hotting up, with many of the continent's most prolific strikers hitting the ground running at the beginning of the 2017/18 campaign.
While Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku are currently locked in a three-way tie for top scorer honours in the Premier League, the English top flight's finest marksmen are still trailing behind the rest of Europe's finest, some of whom are scoring enough for two strikers.
Radamel Falcao, for instance, has already found the back of the net 11 times in just seven Ligue Un appearances, with the Colombian continuing where he left off last season, when he hit 21 goals in 29 league appearances en route to Monaco's French title triumph.
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Elsewhere, Paulo Dybala has continued his rise to prominence as one of world football's finest goal scorers, hitting 10 goals in six matches for Juventus in Serie A.
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Paulo Dybala is currently Europe's most prolific striker, averaging a goal every 47 minutes. Image: PA
Lionel Messi has been his usual self, casually knocking in nine goals in Barcelona's opening six La Liga outings, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has eight in six for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
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Meanwhile, in Rome, both sides of the Roma/Lazio divide have prolific marksman to enjoy, with Lazio's Ciro Immobile hitting eight goals in six games and Roma's Edin Dzeko continuing last season's fine form with another six strikes in five matches.
Among the top 13 performing strikers across Europe this season, three come from the Premier League, with Dybala topping the list with the best minutes:goals ratio of a successful strike every 47 minutes. Falcao is not too far behind with the Colombian goal machine scoring every 52 minutes, while Messi comes third, finding the back of the net every hour.
| Europe's most prolific players so far this season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Games played | Goals | Mins played | Mins/Goal |
| Paulo Dybala (Juventus) | 6 | 10 | 466 | 47 |
| Radamel Falcao (Monaco) | 7 | 11 | 573 | 52 |
| Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | 6 | 9 | 540 | 60 |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) | 6 | 8 | 535 | 67 |
| Ciro Immobile (Lazio) | 6 | 8 | 540 | 68 |
| Edin Dzeko (Roma) | 5 | 6 | 431 | 72 |
| Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) | 6 | 7 | 515 | 74 |
| Dries Mertens (Napoli) | 6 | 6 | 456 | 76 |
| Alvaro Morata (Chelsea) | 6 | 6 | 457 | 76 |
| Sergio Aguero (Man City) | 6 | 6 | 467 | 78 |
| Edinson Cavani (PSG) | 7 | 7 | 608 | 87 |
| Mauro Icardi (Inter) | 6 | 6 | 534 | 89 |
| Romelu Lukaku (Man Utd) | 6 | 6 | 540 | 90 |
Table via BBC Sport
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Also worth noting is Edinson Cavani's place on the list, with Neymar nowhere to be seen. Maybe the Uruguayan's record of seven goals in seven games, averaging a goal every 87 minutes, is reason enough for him to be taking penalties at PSG? Not that I'm remotely arsed, like. Just funny to stir the shit a little bit.
(H/T BBC Sport)
Topics: Football
