Ranking the 5 favorites for the European Golden Boot this season (2021-22)
At this stage of the 2021-22 season, predicting the winner of the European Golden Boot is incredibly hard, much like picking the top-five favorites to win the Premier League title! There are some gifted goalscorers across the continent at the moment and the usual suspects will be in the mix once again.
Before I rank my top five favorites for the European Golden Boot this season, I want to list out a few honorable mentions. I know some world-class goalscorers have not made the cut, but I've explained the reasons behind my picks after going through several team sheets across the major European leagues.
Robert Lewandowski is currently one of my favorite players in world football and should ideally be in the top five, but I just have a feeling that Bayern Munich will not be able to create enough chances for him this season. I'm a big fan of him and in many ways, I hope he proves me wrong, but it's more about the team he's in than his ability.
As for Cristiano Ronaldo, I'm not convinced. I love him as a player and what he's accomplished over the years, but Juventus as a team aren't as good as they used to be, so I don't think he'll be one of the favorites for the European Golden Boot.
After his heroics on Saturday, I thought about including Bruno Fernandes! He's been incredible since joining Manchester United and has scored goals consistently, but it remains to be seen if he can sustain it and put himself in the running for the award.
If there was a top seven or a top eight, these three players would definitely make my list, but here are the five players I've tipped to be front-runners for the European Golden Boot this season.
#5 Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel rotates his squad a lot, but Romelu Lukaku is going to make a massive difference for Chelsea this season. Timo Werner has squandered a handful of glorious goalscoring opportunities over the past 12 months, but Lukaku puts those chances away with ease.
Chelsea have plenty of goals in them, but he is a player who could be a game-changer for them and is coming on the back of a really impressive spell with Inter Milan, having spearheaded them to the Serie A title last season. Lukaku knows the Premier League inside out and you could even say he's got unfinished business at Chelsea, so he'll look to hit the ground running almost immediately.
He can head the ball, score from distance and take players on - he's got everything you want from a big center forward. Chelsea had the money to spend after winning the UEFA Champions League last season and they went out there and got Lukaku. He's a formidable player and a fantastic goalscorer who is up there with the best signings of the summer.
#4 Kylian Mbappe | Paris Saint-Germain
I know the coefficients could be different when it comes to Ligue 1, but Paris Saint-Germain have two players who could be in contention for the European Golden Boot, the first of which is Kylian Mbappe. Much like Erling Haaland, he is a terrific young talent with a tremendous future ahead of him.
To explain the point I'd like to touch upon, I just quickly have to go back to Romelu Lukaku. His last hat-trick in club football came against Bournemouth almost four years ago. When you're a player who consistently scores 20+ goals a season without twos and threes in one game, you're scoring more frequently.
If you look at Mbappe's record, most of his goals are braces or hat tricks for Paris Saint-Germain, so maybe that's something he can add to his game. I'm not suggesting that it's a bad thing to score multiple goals in a single game, but scoring consistently over the course of a season is a clearer indication that you're a bigger threat in front of the net.
With Lionel Messi by his side, Mbappe is surely going to get more chances to add to his goal tally for PSG. With Neymar also at the club - that's quite the trio and they are going to run riot in Ligue 1!
Mbappe is coming on the back of a disappointing outing for France at Euro 2020. If he's going to be the player everyone expects him to be, he'll look to get his goalscoring boots on this season and be in the reckoning for the European Golden Boot alongside arguably the best player in the modern era.
Also Read: Fabrizio Romano's Transfer Roundup: Neymar's role in Lionel Messi's transfer to PSG, Chelsea's transfer plans and more