The Premier League Golden Boot - a two horse race?
Darwin’s signing shows Liverpool’s evolution, but this year's golden boot race will be survival of the fittest. The Premier League is viewed by many as one of the elite club football competitions in the world, with 20 teams competing for glory and substantial prize money. Within that, players vie to win the Golden Boot for their personal collections.
The signing of Darwin Nunez shows Liverpool adapting their attack - Credit: Gualter Fatia.
Some of the best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Alan Shearer, and Sergio Aguero, have all come out on top of the scoring charts for the Golden Boot. Last season, Heung-Min Son and Mohamed Salah shared the award, scoring 23 goals apiece, but this year’s race is being hotly debated and is set to be one of the most intriguing personal battles for many seasons.
The topic on everyone’s lips across this summer transfer
window are the two ‘mega signings’ made by last season's top two teams.
Liverpool are looking to regain the Premier League title, whilst also replacing
outgoing player Sadio Mane, so have turned to Benfica’s Darwin Nunez to bolster
their attacking options. Nunez is expected to play centrally in the front-three
that Liverpool have mastered since Jurgen Klopp introduced it as an attacking
blueprint. He will offer another dimension to their attack adding extra height
over Roberto Firmino, the other traditional centre-forward at the club. £64
million may seem steep for a player from the Portuguese leagues, but his stats
speak for themselves – 34 goals in 41 games across all competitions last season.
His style of play is described as the typical ‘fox in the box’, with all but
two of his goals last season coming from inside 18-yards and an extremely high
conversion rate of 43%.
With players like Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and
Trent-Alexander Arnold, servicing him, his placement inside the box could be a
deadly combination for Liverpool, something that alluded them last season after
failing to score in any of the three cup finals they reached. However, the
Premier League is a completely different challenge to the Primeira Liga, so can
Darwin evolve to a new climate where more natural predators are active?
Defending champions Manchester City managed to take the
title without playing a recognised striker for a large part of the season. This
coupled with Gabriel Jesus’ departure for Arsenal would have left City without
a striker at all in the squad. Step in Erling Haaland. The Norwegian has been
the name on most people’s lips for the past two seasons and certainly has the
potential to tear up the Premier League. Naturally, two high-profile signings
like this will be prone to scrutiny and comparison. Despite struggling with
injuries last season, Haaland still managed to score 29 goals in 30 games with
a further 8 assists.
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| Erling Haaland has the potential to light up the Premier League this season – Credit: Manchester City FC. |
This completes his Borussia Dortmund career with a
staggering 86 goals in 89 appearances for the German club – leaving his overall
career statistics as 155 goals across 200 appearances. What is frightening is
his all-round capabilities. At 6ft5, his height challenges most centre-backs,
whilst his acceleration and top sprint speed clocking in at 22.39mph puts him
among the fastest players in world football.
In a team where many feel don’t need improving, statistics
suggest that Haaland will do the impossible and provide even more firepower –
since joining Borussia Dortmund in January 2020, he averaged 1.04 goals per 90
minutes, demonstrating his clinical nature in front of goal. This is where I
expect City to improve with him in the side. Last season they missed a league-high
total of 65 ‘big’ chances created, while only converting 46.72% of those
chances. Haaland should thrive with the creativity of players such as
Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez around him, but also expect to see him
creating his own chances with the ball at his feet. Of Europe’s top five
leagues, the Bundesliga is arguably the closest to the Premier League, so
adapting to a playing style should not phase Haaland. He should be a joy to
watch on these shores.
But, what about the other contenders? The Golden Boot this
year already looked a tantalising battle, even without adding the two
aforementioned players to the mix. Last year’s holders are still here; Mohamed
Salah will be looking to uphold his world-beating form with Liverpool and
inspire another title challenge, while Heung-Min Son will be aiming to fire a
rejuvenated Tottenham side to the upper echelons of the table. His teammate
Harry Kane will attempt to thrive under Antonio Conte and improve on what was
by his standards, a disappointing season last time out with 17 goals. He sits
just 77 goals off of Alan Shearer’s all-time record in the league.
Other players pushing for the top scoring spot include Jamie
Vardy, who arguably only has a couple more seasons at the top level, given his
age. With Leicester lacking the distraction of European football this season, Vardy’s
goal contributions could help to propel them closer to the top-six once again.
Similarly, Ivan Toney enjoyed a good season in an impressive Brentford side,
and matched his expected goals (xG) of 12.05 by scoring 12 league goals. Now he
has settled in the top flight, he could be an outside bet to take a surprise
Golden Boot.
Yet who could rule out Cristiano Ronaldo. At time of writing,
the Portuguese megastar still resides in Manchester, but rumours are circling
of a potential move to the capital in Chelsea blue. Could new scenery inspire
the Ronaldo we were used to seeing return to scoring week in, week out?
This season’s Premier League should be a joy to watch, and
with the new arrivals this summer, coupled with an open race for European football,
this has the potential - forgive the old football cliché - to be one of the
best years yet.