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Luis Suarez was instrumental in Liverpool's bid for the 2013/14 EPL titleThe English Premier League has seen a lot of strikers from South America. Many of these strikers have not failed to entertain the football fans with their quality finishing and skills.Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger recently spoke about the how most of the strikers playing in Europe are from South America. “If you look across Europe and the world of football, then South America is the only continent to develop strikers today.”“Maybe in our history street football has gone. In street football when you are 10 years old, you play with 15-year-olds so you have to be shrewd, you have to show that you are good, you have to fight, win impossible balls,” Wenger added. Let us take a look at the top five goalscorers from the continent of South America in the world’s most popular league.
#5 Nolberto Solano
Solano became the first Peruvian to play in the Premier League after signing for Newcastle United in 1998. He played in the top division of English football for ten years which included spells at Aston Villa, West Ham and two for the Magpies, during which he scored a total of 49 goals.
Primarily a right-sided midfielder or a right-back, Solano is one of the most popular figures in his native Peru and has made 95 appearances for the national side. He was renowned for his abilities with the dead ball and scored many goals from direct free-kicks.
He is also the first from his nation to play in an FA Cup final and in 2004-05, he was elected as Aston Villa's Player of the Year.
He moved to Greece after his Premier League stint but returned to England later to feature for Leicester City and Hull City in the Championship, as well as for Hartepool United in League One. He is much loved by Newcastle fans and he describes himself as an “adopted Geordie.”
#4 Gus Poyet
Next up, we have former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur star Gus Poyet, who has scored a total of 54 goals in the League for the two London clubs. A goalscoring midfielder, Poyet signed for Chelsea in 1997 from Real Zaragoza, after winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995 with the Spanish side.
He moved to the Blues on a free transfer and went on to become a fan favourite as he won the Cup Winners’ Cup again in 1998.
His best season for the Blues came in 1999-00, where he scored 18 goals and helped them to the FA Cup title. The Uruguayan was then sold to Spurs by Claudio Ranieri, where he spent three seasons, scoring a total of 23 goals in 98 matches.
Poyet has won a total of 26 caps for the Uruguay national side and won the Copa America in 1995. He has also managed Sunderland in the Premier League but was sacked in March this year after a disastrous loss to Aston Villa.
#3 Luis Suarez
As Aguero scored for City against Liverpool, at the same time in Madrid, Luis Suarez had scored a brace for Barcelona at the Bernabeu in a 4-0 thumping of the Los Blancos. The Uruguayan striker spent three-and-a-half seasons in the Premier League with Liverpool, where he scored 69 goals.
He was a prolific scorer for the Reds and often tormented opposition defenses. He almost propelled them to a maiden Premier League crown in 2013-14 before it slipped out of their hands towards the end of the campaign.
He won the Premier League Player of the Year, PFA Players’ Player of the Year and European Golden Shoe in 2014 apart from a League Cup title in 2012. He is the only player in Premier League history to score three hat-tricks against a single club and formed a deadly partnership with Daniel Sturridge as Liverpool finished second in the league.
Along with a huge chunk of goals, Suarez has also had a share in some huge controversies in his Premier League stint such as the racial abuse incident with Man United’s Patrice Evra and the biting incident with Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. In the summer of 2014, he moved to FC Barcelona for a huge fee of £75 million.
#2 Carlos Tevez
The Argentine forward is one of the few players to have played for both Manchester teams and has scored a total of 84 goals in the Premier League after stints with the two rivals plus a season at West Ham. Tevez is known for his seemingly unending energy and sharp finishing and has scored some truly memorable goals during his stay in England.
He was a deadline day signing for the Hammers in the summer of 2006 and arrived amidst controversy regarding his ownership by third parties. He moved to Man United on a two-year loan deal the very next season after helping West Ham avoid relegation on the final day of the season.
In his two years at the Red Devils, he won the league title both times along with a Champions League medal. He joined the ‘Noisy Neighbours’ in 2009 for a British record fee and remained an integral part of the City team for four years, where he won one Premier League and an FA Cup trophy each.
He went to Juventus next, but his time in England was quite a fruitful one as he was adjudged Player of the Year by both West Ham and Man City, and also won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2011.
#1 Sergio Aguero
Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero overtook fellow Argentine Tevez with his 85th Premier League goal against Liverpool and is all set to increase his tally in the coming season. One of the best strikers in the world, Aguero was signed by Man City in 2011 from Atletico Madrid and has since been one of the league’s star performers.
Currently in his fifth season for the Citizens, the striker has won the Premier League twice. In 2011-12, he scored arguably the most memorable goal in Premier League history as his injury-time winner against QPR on the last day of the season helped City win their first Premier League title on goal difference.
He was the league’s top scorer in 2014-15 and had been elected City’s Player of the Year twice as well.
He has also won runners-up medals in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 Copa America tournaments with the Argentina national team and has made 69 appearances for them, scoring a total of 32 goals.
