Golden Shoe 2016/17 Race: Top 10 goal scorers in Europe this season

The race for the Golden Shoe

It’s that time of the season again when the race for the Golden Shoe is heating up. The award, presently held by Barcelona’s Luis Suarez is one of the most prestigious awards in Europe and has been held by the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Henrik Larsson. 

However, the race for the Golden Shoe is not as straight forwards as it appears to sound. The goals scored by each player in their respective Leagues are only counted (no cup competitions), and they’re multiplied by a co-efficient allotted to each League. Players in Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and England have 2.0 as the coefficient which gets multiplied to each goal they score in the League, and the players who play in countries like France, Greece, Netherlands have a coefficient of 1.5 which gets multiplied to their goal tally at the end of the season.

The person with the highest points at the end of the season walks away with the prize. 

#10 Gonzalo Higuaín/ Romelu Lukaku/ Mauro Icardi/ Dries Mertens (24 goals X 2 = 48 points)

Gonzalo Higuain

You didn’t realise that Dries Mertens has sneaked into 24 goals in the League right? Nope, me neither. There have been rumours linking Mertens to English giants (Manchester United mostly) and it is easy to see why, a wide man scoring 24 goals is quite unheard of, even at Real Madrid (low blow, I know).

The trio of Gonzalo Higuaín, Romelu Lukaku and Mauro Icardi have obviously been brilliant for their respective clubs. Gonzalo Higuaín especially has been the shining light for the Old Lady this season and his goals have fired the Italians to pole position in the Serie A and Champions League.

Romelu Lukaku and Mauro Icardi, 23-years-old and 24-years-old respectively have a huge transfer window ahead of them. Surely, there are clubs in Europe willing to churn out 60 million either (not both).