4 Players who could have beaten Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League scoring record
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, plenty of world class strikers from all over the globe have set foot on these shores. The likes of Sergio Aguero, Thiery Henry, Fernando Torres, Ruud van Nistelrooy are just a few who have scored a bucket load of goals in the Premier League. But amongst all the strikers that found success in the EPL, one name explicitly stands out: Alan Shearer.
Shearer, a highly prolific goalscorer with immaculate strength and heading ability was a beast in the opposing penalty area. Capable of scoring tap-ins as well as long rangers, the Geordie legend ended up with an astonishing 260 goals in 441 appearances, a record that still stands intact.
Many great strikers have come and gone, but nobody has come close to matching Shearer's extraordinary feat. The next best scorer, Wayne Rooney, is 52 short of the mark and having left the Premier League for the MLS this summer, the record will remain intact for many more years to come.
This speaks volume about Shearer's fitness levels, finishing ability and a remarkable consistency, to chalk out so many goals on a yearly basis. The great man played Premier League football for 14 years before finally retiring at the end of the 2005-06 season.
Amongst the current crop of strikers, only Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku stand a chance to catch Shearer, that too if they maintain their current form and fitness levels for the next 7-8 years. Like Kane and Lukaku, many other Premier League greats were expected to beat the 260 mark but could not do so due to a variety of reasons like injuries, transfer away from the Premier League, loss of form etc. Here is the list of 4 such players who fell short of Shearer's record:
#4 Michael Owen
Michael Owen burst onto the scene in 1997 as a young 17-year-old, pacy striker with an incredible eye for goal. By the time he retired in 2013, he managed to score 150 premier league goals in 326 appearances for four different clubs.
His most successful years were spent at Liverpool where he netted 118 league goals in 216 games. During his eight-year spell at Anfield, Owen's goals to appearance ratio stood at 0.54 with was just short of Shearer's 0.59 and he was just 25.
Then came his ill-fated move to Real Madrid which lasted for a mere one season after which he returned to England with Newcastle at the start of the 2005-06 season, which incidentally was Shearer's last. After returning, he was never the same player again as injuries started to take a toll on the 26-year old.
The two-time Premier League golden boot winner managed just 26 goals in his four years at Tyneside. The succession of injuries throughout Owen's career badly affected his electric pace and as a result, his goal-scoring got affected. If not for these injuries, Owen would surely have come close or even could have surpassed Shearer's goal scoring exploits.