Ranking the 5 early favorites for the Premier League Golden Boot next season
The Premier League is arguably the most exciting and entertaining top flight club competition in the world. It is easily the most popular football league in the world and Premier League clubs have fans all across the globe.
This popularity and global appeal translates to an incredible amount of money via broadcasting and various sponsorship deals. This makes the English clubs some of the wealthiest in the world. As a result, they are able to field world-class players on a regular basis.
The Premier League features some of the best forwards on the planet. There are plenty of prolific goalscorers from all over the world plying their trade in England. Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min shared the Premier League Golden Boot in the 2021-22 season.
Both of them scored 23 goals each. Next season, we're expecting to see an even fiercer race for the Golden Boot with Erling Haaland joining Manchester City.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the five early favorites for the Premier League Golden Boot for the 2022-23 season.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the very few Manchester United players who came out of the 2021-22 season with their reputations untarnished. The Portuguese talisman wasn't at his best, but that's understandable given the fact that he is 37 now.
Ronaldo still scored 18 goals and provided three assists in 30 league appearances for Manchester United in the 2021-22 season. The Manchester United forward was named in the 'PFA Team of the Year'. He has reportedly decided to kick on at Old Trafford despite a lack of Champions League football.
With Erik ten Hag taking charge as the manager and Ronaldo set to spend a proper pre-season with the team, he could have an even better campaign next time around.
#4 Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
With Harry Kane misfiring in the early parts of the 2021-22 Premier League season, Son Heung-min had to step up and deliver the goods for Tottenham Hotspur. And deliver he did. The South Korea international is one of the most underrated forwards of this generation.
He possesses blistering pace and is excellent at taking defenders on and beating them. Son is also sharp in and around the final third and shows plenty of maturity when presented with goalscoring opportunities.
The 29-year-old scored 23 goals and provided nine assists in 35 league appearances in the 2021-22 season. He became the first Asian player ever to win a Golden Boot in any of Europe's top five leagues last term.
1 - Son Heung-min has become first ever Asian player to win Golden Boot in English Premier League, with 23 goals without single penalty. Legacy. https://t.co/DwKnPjDpVp
#3 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah was in sublime form for Liverpool during the first half of the season. He was scoring goals almost every week and it looked like there was no stopping the Egypt international.
But his form tailed off in the second half of the season. Despite that, Salah still won the Premier League Golden Boot alongside Son Heung-min. He also picked up the Premier League Playmaker Award for most assists (13).
In 35 league appearances in the 2021-22 season, the 29-year-old scored 23 goals and provided 14 assists. He scored just four goals in his last 11 Premier League appearances and that's the reason why despite winning the Golden Boot, he is not at the top of this list.
#2 Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Harry Kane endured a terrible start to the 2021-22 season. After being heavily linked with Manchester City during the 2021 summer transfer window, Kane was forced to stay put at Tottenham Hotspur.
The transfer saga seemed to have taken a toll on him and Kane was nowhere near his best in the opening stages of the campaign.
He scored just a single goal in his first 13 Premier League appearances last term. Kane is one of the best strikers of his generation and it was only a matter of time before he found form again.
The 28-year-old hit his stride nearly halfway through the campaign and finished the season with respectable numbers.
He scored 17 goals and provided nine assists in 37 Premier League appearances in the 2021-22 season.
#1 Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Erling Haaland to Manchester City is likely to remain the most high-profile signing in the Premier League this summer transfer window. The former Borussia Dortmund striker is only 21 but has already established himself as one of the best strikers in the game.
Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund in January 2020. In 89 appearances for the club across all competitions since then, Haaland has scored 86 goals and provided 23 assists. Manchester City have been desperately looking to rope in an out-and-out striker and they couldn't have signed anyone better than Haaland in that regard.
He is likely to take the English top flight by storm and win the Golden Boot in his debut season.
#MCFC
Erling Haaland to Manchester City, here we go! Haaland has passed medical tests as new Man City player today, he’s back in Dortmund. It will be OFFICIAL this week 🚨🔵 #MCFC
Man City told BVB board that they will activate release clause [closer to €60m than €75m] in few hours. https://t.co/heYobi8S1Y