The century club

By Pete Reilly Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/15 18:33:41

Premier League players with history in their sights


Manchester City's Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring against AS Monaco on February 21, 2017 in Manchester, England. Photo: IC



There are exactly 61 players who have scored 50 goals or more for a single English Premier League side. Wayne Rooney, England and Manchester United's record goal scorer leads the way on 183 with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry following close behind on 175.

Neither is adding to their record any time soon, although Rooney will hope that he can at the very least help Derby County return to the top flight when he joins the Championship side in January.

The 50-goal club is illustrious. Only one player has managed it for two clubs. All time Premier League record scorer Alan Shearer did it for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United and it would take a miracle or at least a very large transfer fee to see that record matched anytime soon.

Goals galore

But records are there to be broken and this one is no different.

Manchester City's Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is in third place on the list for single-club scoring with 172 goals and counting. You'd have to expect he will surpass both Henry and Rooney at some point this season. He has hit eight goals in eight games already for Pep Guardiola's champions and leads the race for the golden boot. It is a race that he has only won once in his eight years at the Etihad, back in the 2014-15 season. He is averaging a goal every 70 minutes and one he netted against Bournemouth marking his 400th career goal. If he continues at this current rate, he can expect to top the charts before Christmas.

Aguero arrived from Atletico Madrid in 2011 and it was at the end of his first season that he scored his most famous goal in a City shirt. Aguero hit the last-minute winner on the final day to ensure that the club beat Queens Park Rangers and leapfrogged rivals Manchester United for their first title of the Premier League era. The Argentina striker and his teammates have become used to winning trophies since, including the last two titles.         

Harry Kane might not have won the same silverware as Aguero but he has won back-to-back Premier League golden boots in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. The Tottenham Hotspur striker is averaging a goal every 143 minutes for Mauricio Pochettino's side in this season's Premier League and has five to his name so far in what has proved to be a disappointing season.

The England skipper was the World Cup golden boot winner at Russia 2018 and he added another for the Three Lions in their recent loss to the Czech Republic in Prague. He has 27 goals in 42 games for his country and there is no reason why the 26-year-old will not overhaul Rooney's records in both a club shirt and the national team jersey. He could do that within three seasons in the Premier League based on his recent returns for a season. Kane is 53 goals behind Rooney on 130.

Kane and Aguero are the only two players still playing in the Premier League to have scored more than 100 goals for a single club. There are only 14 players who have managed that in history and Shearer has done it twice. Henry and Aguero are joined by Didier Drogba as the only non-British-born players to have made such a mark in Premier League history. Manchester United's Ryan Giggs is the only player among the Britons not to have been born in England. The Welshman, who spent his whole career at the Old Trafford side before being caretaker manager, hit 109 goals in the Premier League.

Giggs is joined by teammates Rooney and Paul Scholes in that century club with Liverpool also providing three players in the form of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. Arsenal have two on the list - Ian Wright joins the man who took over his title as the Gunners record goalscorer - while Chelsea also have two players: The current manager Frank Lampard is on there along with his former teammate Drogba.

Rags to riches

Spurs, Newcastle and Blackburn have a player each. That club could become 16 and see a new name on it. Leicester City's Jamie Vardy has scored 85 Premier League goals since he made his debut in 2012. The England striker famously rose from playing non-league football to become an international footballer and a Premier League winner with the Foxes in 2016. He's not showing any signs of slowing down yet.

Vardy has scored five goals this season at a rate of 144 minutes per goal as he continues his purple patch under Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers. The Northern Irishman was employed in March to replace Claude Puel at the King Power Stadium and Vardy has thrived since the former Celtic and Liverpool boss took the reins. He has scored 14 goals in 18 games under Rodgers - a better return than any other player in the Premier League during that time.

Last season's golden boot winner Mohamed Salah is next behind Vardy, with 58 goals and counting for Liverpool. Salah has topped the league's scoring charts in the last two seasons and already has four goals this season at 94 minutes per goal. 

Salah is not at his free-scoring best just yet but his teammate Sadio Mane is. The Senegal attacker has scored five goals this season at 122 minutes per goal, bringing up the 50 count for Premier League goals for Liverpool in the process. He's one behind the other prong in Liverpool's attacking trident, Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian has three goals this season at 218 minutes per goal.

Manchester City's Raheem Sterling might be looking up at Liverpool in the current table but the former Anfield winger is ahead on the scoring charts this season. He has scored six this campaign at 104 minutes per goal and now has 54 in a City shirt. At 24, their fans will hope he has many more to come. That is not likely the case for teammate David Silva, who has one more goal than Sterling but has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season. The same fate awaits Spurs' 50-goal man Christian Eriksen. 



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