Top Contenders for the European Golden Shoe: May 2019
The business end of the season is gradually approaching and the race for the 2018/19 European Golden Shoe is also getting keener. With just a month to the end of the season, it is fair to say that everything is shaping up perfectly.
Perennial winners like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are still in the running, but it is the Argentine who has stolen an early march. While Ronaldo is still dominating the Serie A, the Portuguese has a lot of catching up to do after dropping out of the top 10 leading goal scorers in Europe.
Meanwhile, there are also a couple of new faces who have stood out in their respective leagues and are challenging for the European Golden Shoe.
As we begin the month of May, let’s take a look at the top 10 contenders for the 2018/2019 European Golden Shoe award:
(Note: This ranking is based on goals scored by players in only Europe’s top five leagues and, should players have the same number of goals, their assists will be used to decide who stays top of the other.)
#10 Nicolas Pepe (20 goals – 40 points)
For the fourth month running, Nicolas Pepe has made the list of top 10 contenders of the European Golden Shoe award. The Lille forward has been one of the revelations in Ligue 1 this season, churning out impressive performance after performance.
The 23-year-old has scored 20 league goals this season, putting him second on the Ligue 1 scoring charts. He slightly edges out Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the European Golden Shoe (both players have 20 goals, but Pepe has 11 assists to Ronaldo’s eight.)
With just a few weeks to the end of the season, it is unlikely that Pepe will emerge top scorer in Europe, but he can definitely improve his numbers further.
#9 Krzysztof Piatek (21 goals – 42 points)
One of the most talked about talents in Europe this season is Krzysztof Piatek. The young Polish striker has taken the Serie A by storm and hasn’t looked back since joining AC Milan in January.
The striker was a revelation at Genoa but his continuous growth at the San Siro has been remarkable, to say the least. Piatek is among the top scorers in Serie A, having netted 21 goals this season.
The AC Milan forward is currently 9th in the race for the European Golden Shoe and is bound to court a lot of suitors come the end of the season.