Harry Kane, Mo Salah & co. still have a long way to go reach Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League tally
(Image credit: Getty)
To put Alan Shearer's Premier league goalscoring achievements into context, the Geordie legend averaged 20 goals a season for 13 straight years. His tally of 260 strikes was simply sensational and remains the benchmark by which all other strikers are measured.
Only one other player has broken the 200 goal barrier, yet even Wayne Rooney ended his career a whopping 52 goals short of his England predecessor.
But which players currently plying their trade in England's top flight are the closest to Shearer? Let's take a look...
10. Theo Walcott, 78 goals
Former boy wonder Walcott has struck his tally of 78 goals for three different clubs: Arsenal, Everton and Southampton. He scored the vast majority of these for Arsenal, however, with 65 finishes for the North London giants.
10. Son Heung-min, 83 goals
The South Korean joined Spurs from Bayer Leverkusen in 2016 and has been a constant goal threat since. His tally of 83 Premier League goals has come from 223 appearances, at an average of one every 185 minutes. Remarkable for a winger.
8. Christian Benteke, 86 goals
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The big Belgian has been much maligned in the past, having endured several significant goal droughts for current club, Crystal Palace... yet his record speaks of a more prolific goal-getter.
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Across spells at Aston Villa, Liverpool and the Eagles, Benteke has scored 86 goals at a rate of one every 223 minutes. Very respectable indeed.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo, 96 goals
Now back in his second stint in Manchester, CR7 will be hoping to move a lot further up this list over the next two seasons.
He has managed 12 in 24 appearances since re-signing from Juventus in the summer, to add to the 84 he banged in during his first 196 appearances for the Red Devils. It's fair to assume Shearer may have been ousted, had the man who scored 311 league goals for Real Madrid had spent his whole career in England instead.
6. Raheem Sterling, 106 goals
England's Euro 2020 hero has developed into a goal machine at Manchester City, popping up at the back post for Pep Guardiola's side 88 times in 218 appearances. He also managed 18 for Liverpool at the beginning of his career.
Now beyond a century of Premier League strikes, the 27-year-old might back himself to reach the 200 mark before hanging up his boots.
5. Sadio Mane, 107 goals
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The highest active scorer in the Premier League never to have taken a penalty.
Sadio Mane has been an absolute predator since arriving in the Premier League, with Southampton, in 2014. He scored 21 in 67 Saints appearances before Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool snapped him up. Eyebrows were raised at the €41m fee, but the Senegalese has made a mockery of those jeers, smashing in 86 for the Anfield club.
4. Mohamed Salah, 117 goals
Surprisingly low down on this list, Mo Salah finds himself only fourth among the Premier League's active scorers. The Egyptian's goals have, however, come at the fastest rate, with his 117 strikes arriving on average at one every 128 minutes.
Had he played more than his 178 matches, the 29-year-old might well be up there with Shearer. The lion's share of Salah's goals have been scored for Liverpool, but he did manage two during a 13-game stint at Chelsea in his younger days.
3. Romelu Lukaku, 118
Big Rom has been a constant source of limbs on the terraces since arriving in England as a teenager, and few players on this list have scored so many goals for 'smaller' clubs.
He plundered 17 for lowly West Brom during a 2012/13 loan spell; then 68 in 141 appearances for a bang average Everton side. Twenty-eight more were scored for Manchester United and three more have come since his return to Chelsea in the summer. Had he not moved to Italy for two seasons, and scored those 47 Serie A goals in the Premier League instead, he'd be closing in on the 200 mark at the age of 28.
2. Jamie Vardy, 128 goals
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We all know the Jamie Vardy story by now. The former factory worker who didn't rock up to the Premier League until the age of 27 is living proof that hard graft will pay off in the end.
The Leicester City talisman managed just five in his first top flight campaign, but since then he's smashed home 24, 13, 20, 18, 23, 15 and 15 before this season. The 35-year-old is like a fine wine – long may he continue to hassle defenders!
1. Harry Kane, 178 goals
(Image credit: PA)
As much as we all love the multicultural splendour of the Premier League, we'd be lying if we said we'd be thrilled to see a foreign player knock Big Al off his perch. Thank goodness, therefore, that the likeliest candidate to do so is England captain Kane.
The Spurs striker (who also played three goalless Premier League matches for Norwich) has scored his 178-goal haul at a rate of one ever 128 minutes. Now 28, he probably has another five years or so in which to score the 82 required to break Shearer's record. That's an average of 16.4 per season.
Ed is a staff writer at FourFourTwo, working across the magazine and website. A German speaker, he’s been working as a football reporter in Berlin since 2015, predominantly covering the Bundesliga and Germany's national team. Favourite FFT features include an exclusive interview with Jude Bellingham following the youngster’s move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, a history of the Berlin Derby since the fall of the Wall and a celebration of Kevin Keegan’s playing career.
