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#T2 Dominik Calvert-Lewin (Everton) - 10 goals
English striker Dominik Calvert-Lewin has outshone the likes of Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane, and Mohamed Salah to top the goal-scoring charts in the 2020-21 Premier League.
The 23-year-old Englishman has scored in all but two leagues this season as Everton capitalized on his exploits to emerge as the surprise Premier League leaders after four matchdays, before slightly falling off the pace.
To put his numbers into perspective, Calvert-Lewin scored only 24 times in 114 Premier League games across four previous seasons. If he can keep up his blistering rate of scoring, Calvert-Lewin could become the first Premier League player in seven years to win the Golden Shoe.
#T2 Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) - 10 goals
Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland has taken the football world by storm since he marked his Champions League debut for Salzburg with a hat-trick last season.
Now at Borussia Dortmund, the 20-year-old has scored at better than a goal per game in all competitions (33 goals in 31 games), a tally that includes ten goals in this season's Bundesliga.
Remarkably, Haaland — who started his 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign with a hat-trick against Augsburg — recently remarked that he has massive room for improvement and needs to be more clinical in front of goal.
"I still need to become a much better footballer; that’s what drives me on every day. My finishing needs to improve; I need to be more clinical, more ruthless. I also need to get better in linking up with my teammates. I know that," he said.
European defenses have been suitably warned, as Erling Braut Haaland has emerged as one of the top contenders for the coveted Golden Shoe award this season.
#T2 Zlatan Ibrahimovich (AC Milan) - 10 goals
Like a bottle of good wine, Zlatan Ibrahimovich has only got better with age. Despite turning 39 earlier this year, the evergreen Swede has amassed ten goals in the Serie A this season to propel AC Milan to the league summit.
Remarkably, Ibrahimovich has conjured that tally despite missing two games because of contracting COVID-19.
The much-traveled Swede has scored in each of his six Serie A matches this season, which includes braces in as many as four games, with his latest two-goal haul inspiring league leaders AC Milan to their first win at Napoli in a decade.
If Ibrahimovich continues his good run for the rest of the season, the Swede could become the oldest Golden Shoe winner in history, and Milan could end Juventus' nine-year Serie A stranglehold.
#1 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - 11 goals
Robert Lewandowski is arguably the hottest striker on the planet at the moment. After scoring a staggering 55 times in all competitions to inspire Bayern Munich to their second continental treble last season, the prolific Pole has started the 2020-21 campaign from where he left off.
He may have scored 'only' thrice in four Champions League games this season but has already plundered 11 goals in six Bundesliga games - a tally that includes two hat-tricks - before drawing a rare blank against Werder Bremen last weekend.
After scoring 34 Bundesliga goals last season to narrowly miss out on the Golden Shoe award, the prolific Pole has launched another bid for the elusive award this season.
Incidentally, Lewandowski is also on course to break Gerd Muller's long-standing record of most goals in a season (40) if he continues his blistering pace of scoring for the rest of the campaign.
