Harry Diamond
As we enter the second half of the season across Europe’s major leagues, we’ve decided to look at the players currently in contention to win the European Golden Shoe.
From familiar faces to stars enjoying true breakthrough campaigns, there has been a whole host of great goalscorers impressing across the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 in 2021/22 to date.
We’ve decided to look at the names leading the goalscoring charts in each of those divisions, here are the rankings of the top scorers in Europe’s major league so far this season.
Ligue 1 – Jonathan David (12)
Jonathan David has enjoyed an electric start to the Ligue 1 season, scoring 12 goals from just 19 appearances for Lille to lead Wissam Ben Yedder and Kylian Mbappe in the race to finish as the league’s leading scorer.
The Canadian has exploded during the current campaign with his haul just one short of the 13 he managed during Lille’s title success last term, despite the defending champions struggling to replicate last season’s performances.
David has been linked with a move to the Premier League following his fine form this season, with West Ham, Liverpool and Arsenal amongst the sides reportedly interested in prising him from the French side.
Having overcome a difficult start to his career with the club last season, the 21-year-old has evolved into a lethal presence in Ligue 1 and his pace, movement and clinical touch saw the youngster score 23 goals in just 39 league appearances during the 2021 calendar year.
La Liga – Karim Benzema (15)
Karim Benzema is enjoying the best football of his career at a time when others are slowing down, the 34-year-old remaining one of the finest number nines in world football.
Benzema has scored 15 league goals this season to fire Real Madrid to the top of La Liga, with only Sevilla currently able to keep pace with Carlo Ancelotti’s league leaders.
The France international is the complete centre-forward and is both clinical and creative when leading the line, having provided seven assists in addition to his 15 goals – a figure that ranks him second for goal created in Spain’s top flight.
🔥 @Benzema does RIDICULOUS things, pass it on. 🔥@EASPORTSFIFA | #FUT | #TOTW pic.twitter.com/23N2AqnvsH
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) December 29, 2021
Benzema has revelled in the responsibility of becoming Real Madrid’s key figure and the improvement of Vinicius Junior alongside him has provided Los Blancos with a formidable forward line.
Benzema has never previously won the Pichichi Trophy as Spain’s leading scorer given the dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but is four ahead of nearest challenger Juanmi and the red-hot favourite to claim a maiden accolade this season.
Premier League – Mohamed Salah (16)
Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in more goals than any other plater in Europe’s top five league, leading the Premier League for both goals and assists (joint with Trent Alexander-Arnold) during the 2021/22 season so far.
Salah has scored 16 league goals for the Reds in a brilliant individual campaign, including scoring a hat-trick as Liverpool beat fierce rivals Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford in October.
25 – This is the fifth consecutive Premier League campaign in which Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 25+ goals (16 goals, nine assists) – only Thierry Henry has ever had a longer such run of seasons in the competition (7 from 1999-2000 to 2005-06). Greats. pic.twitter.com/nWsiNb2shD
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 2, 2022
The Egyptian international leads the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot by a considerable margin, Salah six clear of teammate Diogo Jota (10) with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy third (9).
Salah is aiming to become just the fourth footballer to win three or more Premier League Golden Boots, after Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Harry Kane.
Serie A – Dusan Vlahovic (16)
Dusan Vlahovic enjoyed a sensational 2021, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s Serie A record for most goals scored in a calendar year (33).
The Serbia international netted 16 of those goals across the opening months of the current campaign, leading three-time Capocannoniere award winner Ciro Immobile at the top of the Serie A rankings.
Europe’s elite are watching the 21-year-old’s progress closely with Fiorentina soon set to cash in on their prized possession, Vlahovic having turned down the offer of a new contract that would have made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history.
Vlahovic is imposing, left-footed and ruthless when presented with a sight of goal, attributes which have put him at the forefront of transfer plans for some of the world’s biggest clubs.
Bundesliga – Robert Lewandowski (19)
Few will be surprised to see Robert Lewandowski top these rankings, the brilliant Bayern Munich forward having set extraordinary goalscoring standards in recent campaigns.
Lewandowski smashed the Bundesliga’s all-time single season goal record last term after scoring 41 goals in just 29 league appearances for the Bavarians, whilst he has again averaged better than a goal-per-game in 2021/22 after netting 19 in 17 this term.
🇵🇱 Robert Lewandowski has finished as the top scorer playing in Europe for club and country for the 3rd calendar year running…
2⃣0⃣2⃣1⃣ = ⚽️6⃣9⃣
2⃣0⃣2⃣0⃣ = ⚽️4⃣7⃣
2⃣0⃣1⃣9⃣ = ⚽️5⃣4⃣#UCL pic.twitter.com/ni0e3cQUrB— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 31, 2021
Add in nine goals in six Champions League games and it’s another incredible haul from the 33-year-old, who has shown few signs of slowing down and is arguably the world’s finest footballer at present.
Lewandowski has now scored 324 goals across seven-and-a-half seasons with Bayern Munich and is in pursuit of a fifth consecutive Bundesliga top scorer award and seventh career honour – a total that would see him level Gerd Muller’s record.
Patrik Schick (16) and Erling Haaland (13) will be bidding to stop that bid, but few would bet against Lewandowski setting more milestones before the end of the 2021/22 season.
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