Ranking the five fastest players to score 100 Premier League goals

Mohamed Salah celebrated a milestone moment for Liverpool at Leeds this weekend, with the Egyptian scoring his 100th goal in the Premier League at Elland Road.

Salah has scored prolifically since returning to the Premier League with Liverpool in 2017, including scoring a record-breaking 32 league goals during his maiden season at Anfield.

After an underwhelming spell at Chelsea the forward has evolved into one of the most prolific players in world football, with his century of goals in the Premier League coming from just 162 career appearances.

Following Salah’s inclusion in the division’s ‘100 club’, we look at the five fastest players to score 100 Premier League goals:

Mohamed Salah – 162 games

Salah is the fifth-fastest player in Premier League history to reach a century of goals in the division, his 162 appearances moving the 29-year-old ahead of the likes of Ian Wright (173 games) and Robbie Fowler (175 games).

The Egyptian signed for Chelsea as a youngster from Basel but struggled to make an impact in west London, scoring just twice in 13 league appearances before leaving England for Italy.

Salah’s progress across three seasons in Serie A persuaded Liverpool to sign the winger from Roma, but few could have envisaged the spectacular start he would have upon his Premier League return.

Salah’s 32 league goals during the 2017/18 campaign earned him the Golden Boot and a divisional record, with his 44 goals in all competitions another Premier League record (shared with Ruud van Nistelrooy – 2002/03).

The goals have continued to flow with a second Golden Boot arriving the following season, the performances of Salah in tandem with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino having helped Liverpool to both Champions League and Premier League success in recent seasons.

His current record stands at 98 goals in just 149 league appearances for the Reds, with Salah now just five goals away from eclipsing Didier Drogba as the highest-scoring African player in Premier League history.

Thierry Henry – 160 games

The man who eclipsed Ian Wright as Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer, Thierry Henry’s career in English football is one which needs little introduction.

Henry arrived in north London from Juventus and soon established himself as the leading forward in the Premier League, winning a record four Golden Boots during a glittering eight-year spell that saw him twice named as the PFA Player of the Year and as the FWA Footballer of the Year on three occasions.

The Frenchman redefined the expectations of a centre-forward and was the trailblazer for the multi-functional attackers common in the modern game, drifting wide into dangerous areas and taking on more responsibility than simply putting away chances.

Rarely has a player looked quite as unstoppable as Henry in an Arsenal shirt, an irrepressible talent who breezed past opposition defenders at will, scoring ruthlessly and regularly during the finest period in the club’s Premier League history.

He reached 100 goals in just 160 league appearances for the Gunners, winning two league titles and becoming recognised as arguably the most influential player the division has seen.

Remembering Thierry Henry’s incredible season in 2002/03

Sergio Aguero – 147 games

The highest-scoring non-English player in Premier League history and Manchester City’s all-time record goalscorer, Sergio Aguero made the art of finding the back of net become almost mundane during a sensational career at the Etihad.

No player has ever scored so clinically or with such regularity as the diminutive Argentine, who came alive within the widths of the opposition goalposts with his low-centre of gravity and insatiable desire to get his name on the scoresheet.

Only two players have ever reached a century of Premier League goals in quicker fashion than Aguero, who ranks second for goals-per-game ratio amongst all players to have achieved the feat.

It seems an odd take but there is a sense that Aguero remains under-appreciated when discussing the Premier League’s very best, despite his status as a five-time title winner and a player who has defined so many big games – scoring more goals than any other player against the division’s ‘top six’.

Statistics may only tell half the story, but there is no disputing Aguero’s place in the conversation of the Premier League’s greatest ever striker.

Harry Kane – 141 games

Only one player has ever reached the Premier League’s 100 club in quicker fashion than Harry Kane, the Tottenham star enjoying a blistering start to his career after being handed his opportunity with the north London side.

Kane burst onto the scene after coming through Spurs’ academy ranks and flourished amid regular first-team football, scoring 20+ league goals in four consecutive seasons and winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot in consecutive campaigns in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

The second of those seasons saw Kane score 29 goals in just 30 Premier League appearances, with no player in Premier League history having averaged a better goal-per-game ratio in a Golden Boot-winning season.

He became the 27th player to reach 100 Premier League goals with a penalty against Liverpool in 2018, reaching the landmark figure in just 141 top-flight appearances.

Kane added a third Golden Boot to his collection during the 2020/21 season, becoming just the third player to have won the award on three or more occasions.

Alan Shearer – 124 games

The greatest goalscorer in Premier League history and a man whose landmarks many feel will last the test of time, Alan Shearer plundered a phenomenal 260 goals in the division during a prolific career in the colours of Blackburn Rovers and boyhood side Newcastle United.

Shearer remains the only player to have scored 30+ league goals in more than one campaign, achieving the feat three seasons in succession during a period at Ewood Park that delivered a Premier League title for Blackburn.

He became the first player in the division’s history to win three consecutive Golden Boot awards, winning two with Blackburn before claiming the honour a third time following a world-record move to St James’ Park.

Shearer was the talismanic forward presence of his generation and combined a natural finishing instinct with a willingness to engage in the combative side of the game, revelling in the adulation that came with the roar of a goal as he set off in celebration in one-handed signature style.

He reached 100 Premier League goals in just 124 league games, later becoming the most prolific goalscorer the division has seen and breaking Jackie Milburn’s Magpies’ goalscoring record.

Read – The 9 players to have scored 30+ goals in a single Premier League season