Top 20: The best young goalscorers in Europe
Date published: Sunday 26th March 2017 7:35
We’ve limited our search to the top ten leagues of Europe, so we’re acknowledging Belgium and Portugal but we will have no truck with Lithuania and Latvia. Here are the 20 players who are 23 or under with at least ten league goals this season…
Giovanni Simeone (Genoa, Argentina, 21, ten goals)
Yes, he’s Diego Simeone’s son. And yes, this is the player reportedly targeted by Everton to replace Romelu Lukaku. The problem? If Daddy joins Inter Milan, then so does his son. Oh and he hasn’t scored since the end of January.
Mimoun Mahi (FC Groningen, Netherlands, 23, ten goals)
Very recently signed a new contract but will not be turning up at a mid-table Premier League club any time soon. Only scored five Eredivisie goals last season.
Serge Gnabry (Werder Bremen, Germany, 21, ten goals)
This deal is going to look terrible for Arsene Wenger in hindsight; Serge Gnabry left Arsenal for £5m last summer and has since reached double figures for Werder Bremen despite playing largely on the left. Oh and he is now a full German international.
.@SergeGnabry running past defenders like they're not even there ???? #werder pic.twitter.com/yLzTEXwkr2
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) March 17, 2017
Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina, Italy, 23, ten goals)
Very strongly linked with Juventus and Chelsea, the very exciting Bernardeschi can play anywhere behind a striker. Don’t judge him on the poor hour he played at Euro 2016 as Italy’s reserves lost to Ireland.
Federico Bernardeschi is Italy's next magician. Flashy dribbling, passing vision, and incredible shooting: Fiorentina's complete winger. pic.twitter.com/sjFdIIEOoy
— EiF Soccer (@EiFsoccer) March 19, 2017
Mamadou Sylla (Eupen, Senegal, 23, 11 goals)
Presumably Mr Sylla is enjoying his loan spell at Belgian club Eupen from Espanyol. Nope, we had never heard of him either. Bizarrely, former Spanish international striker Luis Garcia also plays for Eupen. They’re managed by a Spaniard, you see.
Sebastien Haller (FC Utrecht, France, 22, 11 goals)
Currently struggling to match his 19 goals from last season (when he was strongly linked with Newcastle), but Haller has contributed to what would be an excellent fourth-place finish this season.
39 – Sébastien Haller and Igor Gluscevic now share the ninth spot on the Eredivisie top-scorers list for @fcutrecht (39 goals). Prolific.
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) March 18, 2017
Landry Nany Dimata (KV Oostende, Belgium, 19, 11 goals)
We cannot claim to know an awful lot about this fella, but to be a Belgium Under-21 international at 19 means you must have something a tad special. Though not as special as…
Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht, Belgium, 19, 12 goals)
And this is why nobody is talking about Landry Nany Dinata. Tielemans is destined for a big club this summer after scoring a bucketload of goals. From central midfield. He is already a full Belgium international and he is coming to a club near you soon.
Youri Tielemans (19) has scored more league goals from outside the box in 2017 (4) than any player in Europe's top leagues.
Sharpshooter. pic.twitter.com/2hRca9cy8Z
— Scouted Football (@ScoutedFtbl) March 19, 2017
Henry Onyekuru (Eupen, Nigeria, 19, 12 goals)
Well aren’t Eupen doing an excellent line in young African players? Onyekuru has been extensively linked with Celtic (and quietly linked with Liverpool) after scoring a barrel-load of goals from the left wing for our new favourite club.
And who wouldn't love a German-speaking Belgian club owned by PSG's owners and managed by a Condom? https://t.co/EJKtwlgFHb
— Steve Atkins (@steveatkins) March 25, 2017
Kylian Mbappe (Monaco, France, 18, 12 goals)
Reports in Spain saying that Manchester United have offered £96m for the player Arsene Wenger likens to Thierry Henry are frankly mental, but this kid has got something very special indeed. Just ask Manchester City.
Riad Bajic (Konyaspor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22, 12 goals)
Destined to join a big Turkish club this summer, Konyaspor’s £400,000 signing from Željezničar is going to make them a pretty penny. Right now he would cost closer to £5m.
Enes Unal (FC Twente, Turkey, 19, 13 goals)
Described in The Guardian this week as ‘the most exciting player to have left the Super Lig since Arda Turan’, Unal is still a Manchester City player and is now a full Turkish international. You will not be surprised to learn that Twente want him for another season and Fenerbahce are also interested. Over to you, Pep.
Steve Mounie (Montpellier, Benin, 22, 13 goals)
Could he overtake Stephane Sessegnon as the best footballer to come out of Benin? Could he be coming to a big Championship side near you soon? At 6′ 3″ and nicknamed The Tank, he will inevitably be described as ‘suited to English football’.
Kasper Dolberg (Ajax, Denmark, 19, 13 goals)
Ridiculously blonde. Ridiculously good. Ridiculously unlikely to be at Ajax for much longer, with Jurgen Klopp recently describing him as a “fantastic player” and Manchester United credited with an interest.
Timo Werner (RB Leipzig, Germany, 21, 14 goals)
While Marcus Rashford sat on the bench, Germany started their exciting young striker on Wednesday night against England. He has already admitted it would be pretty “special” to play for Liverpool but the smart money is on him having one more season in the Bundesliga.
Dele Alli (Tottenham, England, 20, 14 goals)
You may have heard of him. The Redknapps want to adopt him and make him England captain, while the rest of us are desperate to see just how good he could become. Except for Lee Dixon, who already thinks World Cup winner Mesut Ozil should be more like Alli.
Andre Silva (Porto, Portugal, 21, 15 goals)
Could Portugal finally have a bona fide out-and-out striker to take some of the pressure off Ronaldo? It says something about Silva’s impact that Portugal won Euro 2016 and then promptly installed him as their starting striker. Poor Eder.
Harry Kane (Tottenham, England, 23, 19 goals)
That’s quite the haul from the man who is so far ahead of his England striker colleagues that he is barely a dot in the distance. And yet some people still insist that he’s not real. His PL record for Tottenham: 68 goals in 105 games. Ridiculous.
Romelu Lukaku (Everton, Belgium, 23, 21 goals)
The Premier League’s leading scorer and a man who is openly ambitious about his plans to become one of the best strikers in the world. Chelsea may have to pay £70m-plus to get him this summer and they may yet regard that as a bargain. His PL record for Everton: 64 goals in 132 games. Not bad.
Andrea Belotti (Torino, Italy, 23, 22 goals)
And if Chelsea don’t get Lukaku, there is always Belotti. Though latest reports suggest it is Arsenal who are interested to the tune of £43m. Is that the going rate for Italy’s starting striker? Just look at him head the ball…
Selection of Andrea Belotti headed goals. Superb movement, excellent timing of runs and fantastic technique. pic.twitter.com/keTiL0ZDK2
— Running The Show (@RunTheShowBlog) March 25, 2017
Sarah Winterburn
EmoticonEmoticon