Golden boots all round: English goalscorers eyeing historic success at home and away
With Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane starring overseas, English players could be on for an unprecedented season of goalscoring success in three of the top five European leagues.
This may be a less than vintage season for Premier League clubs in Europe but in other respects English football is proving to be the toast of the continent.
Stellar campaigns for Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid and Harry Kane at Bayern Munich could see English players finish as leading scorers in Spain and Germany for the first time.
Back home, meanwhile, Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins are giving Erling Haaland a run for his money in the race for the Premier League golden boot.
The upshot is that England could boast the top scorers in three of the so-called Big Five European leagues – an unprecedented scenario, and not a bad omen leading into a major international tournament, Euro 2024, this summer.
Bellingham wrote the latest chapter in an extraordinary first season in Spain on Sunday night when he snatched a late winner against Barcelona in El Clasico.
It further cemented the 20-year-old’s hero status at the Santiago Bernabeu and took him to 17 goals in 25 LaLiga appearances, just one behind Pichichi leader Artem Dovbyk of Girona.
The midfielder needs three more goals in Real Madrid’s remaining six games to equal Gary Lineker’s 20 goals for Barcelona in the 1986-87 campaign.
In Germany, Kane has seemingly had the Bundesliga’s equivalent to the golden boot, the Torjagerkanone, from the moment he left Tottenham Hotspur for Bavaria last summer.
His goal in Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of Union Berlin took his tally to 33 in 30 league games, 40 in 41 in all club competitions, and 41 in 43 including internationals.
Eight clear of his nearest rival, the only question remaining is whether Kane can get close to Robert Lewandowski’s all-time record of 41 goals in a Bundesliga season.
In the Premier League, Palmer has been a revelation since leaving Manchester City for Chelsea in search of more regular playing time last summer.
Eight months on and the 21-year-old has the same number of top-flight goals – 20 – as one of the men who was keeping him out of the City team, last year’s top scorer Erling Haaland.
Just one goal behind them is Watkins, who is enjoying his most productive season to date as Aston Villa have gone from strength to strength under Unai Emery.
The former Brentford forward also leads the Premier League assists chart with 12, meaning he has racked up more than 30 goal involvements.
Dominic Solanke is on 18 goals and beyond him are plenty more Englishmen enjoying prolific years, such as Jarrod Bowen (15), Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka (both 14).
How to explain this bumper crop? Firstly, it’s in keeping with a general trend of England’s academies producing more talent, as evidenced by international honours at age-group level.
Secondly, the above has given rise to European clubs taking a keener interest in English players, with Ademola Lookman and Ruben Loftus-Cheek also thriving in Italy.
So, while Premier League sides might not feature but with Bayern and Real Madrid still involved, there could yet be an Englishman firing their team to the Champions League this year.
