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Throughout the game's history, there have been many prolific goalscorers, with some of them staying at a single club for almost the entirety of their careers.
Francesco Totti and Raul scored over 300 goals for AS Roma and Real Madrid, respectively. While Totti never played for any other team, Raul enjoyed a late swansong at Schalke after a prolific stint in the Spanish capital.
Luis Suarez scored almost 200 goals during a highly successful six-season stay at Barcelona. More recently, Bayern Munich sharpshooter Robert Lewandowski scored his 300th goal for the club whom he joined only seven summers ago.
On that note, let's find out if the quartet makes the list of top ten prolific scorers for a single club in the history of the game:
#10 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 450 goals
As it turns out, the aforementioned quartet doesn't make the list of ten most prolific scorers for a single club, and by quite some distance too. With 450 goals for Real Madrid during a prolific nine-season stint, Cristiano Ronaldo is the tenth-most prolific scorer for a single club.
He didn't score in his last game for the club - the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool. But Ronaldo did net his landmark 450th Real Madrid goal against Madrid's El Clasico rivals Barcelona.
Ronaldo is more than 100 goals clear of the club's previous all-time top scorer Raul (324).
While at Madrid, he became the first player to score 100 Champions League goals for a single club and the second to net 300 times in La Liga. He won two La Liga and four Champions League titles, as well as four Ballon d'Or awards during his time at the club.
Having returned to Manchester United this summer, the 36-year-old will hope to continue his prolific scoring ways after netting over 100 times during a three-season stint at Juventus.
#9 Eusebio (Benfica) - 473 goals
Portuguese legend Eusebio scored a staggering 473 goals for Benfica between 1960 and 1975. The 1965 Ballon d'Or winner won 11 league titles and one European Cup, among other honours.
He enjoyed his most prolific season with the club in 1967-68, scoring exactly 50 goals, including 42 in the league. He went on to produce another 40-goal league campaign five years later.
Widely regarded as one of the best players of all time, Eusebio lit up the 1966 FIFA World Cup scoring nine times, including four against North Korea. Portugal finished third.
The diminutive forward passed away at the age of 71 in 2014 after heart failure, with Portugal announcing three days of national mourning in his memory.
#8 Uwe Seeler (Hamburg) - 489 goals
Uwe Seeler is one of the most renowned one-club men in the history of the game. During a near two-decade-long illustrious career for Hamburg, the striker scored almost 500 goals for the club.
Seeler, who scored over 400 league goals, including 137 in the Bundesliga era, became the first player to top score in a Bundesliga season when he scored 30 times in the competition's inaugural 1963-64 edition.
Seeler, who also featured in four FIFA World Cups for West Germany, remained loyal to Hamburg despite receiving 'tempting' offers from Spanish and Italian clubs.
#7 Jimmy Jones (Glenavon) - 517 goals
Jimmy Jones. is the all-time top scorer in Irish football, with nearly 650 goals. Most of his goals - 517 of them - came while playing for Glenavon.
The striker scored those goals in just 11 seasons at the club. His most prolific season in Irish football came in 1956-57 when Jones reportedly netted 74 times, one of the most prolific seasons ever in club football.
He expired in 2014 at the age of 85, almost fifty years after his retirement as a player.
#6 Jimmy McGrory (Celtic) - 522 goals
Jimmy McGrory is one of a handful of players in the history of the sport to have scored over 500 goals for a single club.
The all-time Celtic top scorer has the most goals in club and international football by a British player. McGrory scored over 50 hat-tricks in his professional career, one of them being a double hat-trick (eight goals against Dumbermline in a Scottish league game in 1928).
The diminutive striker (5' 6") was unusually good in the air for his height. He was one everyone wanted in their team during the 1920s. He retired in 1938. McGrory passed away at the age of 78 in 1982.
#5 Josef Bican (Slavia Praha) - 534 goals
Josef Bican is one of the most prolific goalscorers in the game's history, especially in the 20th century. During a highly successful decade-long stint at Slavia Praha during the 30s and 40s, Bican amassed nearly 550 goals across competitions.
The all-time top scorer in Czech league history, Bican is said to have scored over 800 goals in official games.
In 2020, the late striker was awarded the 'Golden Ball' by IFFHS in recognition of the player top-scoring in a staggering 12 league campaigns. Bican played for Austria at the 1934 World Cup, but couldn't play in the 1938 FIFA World Cup for Czechoslovakia due to a 'clerical' error.
#4 Fernando Peyroteo (Sporting Lisbon) - 544 goals
Fernando Peyroteo was another prolific goalscorer in the 20th century, scoring almost 550 times for Sporting Lisbon between 1937 and 1949.
The striker won 11 major titles with the Portuguese giants and was the Portuguese league's top scorer on six occasions. Peyroteo's most prolific campaign for Sporting Lisbon in 1945-46 saw him score 56 goals across competitions.
In fact, such was his scoring prowess that even in his leanest scoring campaign, he still netted 37 times (twice). Peyroteo held the record for the quickest five-goal haul (22 minutes) in a European top-flight game before Robert Lewandowski lowered that mark by an astounding 13 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, Peyroteo averaged more than a goal per game during his legendary career. He once scored nine times in a match, a record haul in a game in Europe's top ten leagues.
The five-time Primeira Liga winner passed away at the age of 60 in 1978 after complications arising from the amputation of a leg.
#3 Gerd Muller (Bayern Munich) - 566 goals
Gerd Muller is one of the most prolific strikers to have graced the game. The only player to score over 350 Bundesliga goals, Muller amassed a stunning 566 strikes across competitions for Bayern Munich during the mid-60s and 70s.
The seven-time Torjegarkannone winner's staggering exploits coincided with Bayern's emergence as a force to be reckoned with in Europe. Muller, who passed away earlier this year, won four Bundesliga titles and also the 1974 FIFA World Cup with Germany as well as the 1972 European Championships.
The diminutive striker held the record for most goals (40) in a Bundesliga season for five decades before Robert Lewandowski surpassed him this year.
Nicknamed Der Bomber, Muller won the 1970 Ballon d'Or award and was also a prolific scorer for West Germany, netting 68 times in just 62 games.
Franz Beckenbauer, Muller's teammate at Bayern and West Germany, once said about his compatriot:
"Gerd Muller was quite simply the greatest guarantee of goals in the history of football. I had the great fortune of playing alongside Gerd Müller – and also sharing a room for many years. We weren’t just teammates but sworn friends. Gerd was like a brother to me. I’m sure people will still talk about Gerd Müller in 100 years. And they’ll still wonder how he scored so many goals. He was a phenomenon.”
Those were words of the highest praise, coming from a legend of a game himself.
#2 Pele (Santos) - 643 goals
Widely regarded as the best player ever to have graced the game, Brazilian legend Pele needs no introduction.
The only player to win three FIFA World Cups, Pele scored almost 650 times for Santos. That was a record for most competitive goals scored for a single club before Pele was pipped to second place by another legend of the game (more about him later).
Pele is the only teenager to score a brace in a World Cup final, which he did so as a 17-year-old against Sweden in 1958. That happened only a few months after a sceptical Santos handed the then-teenager his first big break. And there would be no looking back for Pele from that moment.
Pele was diminutive in stature, which made his aerial prowess astounding, as he would regularly outsmart taller, physically imposing defenders with nonchalance. Recently, Pele's record for most goals in club football was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 81-year-old, a six-time Brazilian Serie A winner with Santos, shared a picture of him hugging Ronaldo and wrote:
"My only regret is not being able to give you a hug today. But I leave this photo in your honour, with great affection, as the symbol of a friendship that has existed for many years."
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 672 goals
Lionel Messi, like Pele, is considered one of the finest players to have played the beautiful game.
During an illustrious near two-decade-long career, Messi scored an astounding 672 goals for Barcelona, surpassing Pele's record for most goals for a single club. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner, who is also the all-time La Liga top scorer, is one of two players to score 100 Champions League goals for one club.
Messi won two continental trebles, ten La Liga titles and eight Pichichi awards with the club. But just when it looked like he would retire at the Camp Nou, Barcelona announced that they had failed to renew their superstar's contract owing to La Liga's financial fair play regulations.
Now at PSG, Messi will hope to continue his prolific ways with his newest employers.
