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The objective of every match is to put the ball in the back of the opposition net, and whichever team does more of that ultimately triumphs in a match, and it is for this reason that players with the ability to do this on a regular basis are placed in high premium.
Every position in a team is important, as they all work in functionality to achieve the team’s ambitions, but strikers are given extra privileges due to their status as match winners. They are largely paid more, win most of the individual awards, and some of the most revered players in the history of the game have been forwards.
In today’s world of increased marketing and commerciality, goals are still as important as ever, and strikers are still as revered if not more so than at any other point in history and the essence of this piece is to highlight those who are the best in the business of scoring goals at this point in the European continent. Here are the top ten strikers in Europe based on current form.
This list focuses on only out-and-out center-forwards, so forwards such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar or Ronaldo who are also in excellent goalscoring form are not considered.
Honorable mentions: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth), Francois Kamano (Bordeaux), Lebo Mothiba (Lille), Andre Silva (Sevilla), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
#10 Paco Alcacer (Borussia Dortmund)
7 goals, 0 assist (29 mins/goal)
After failing to nail down a regular spot in the Barcelona line up for two seasons, the 25-year-old former Valencia man was sent out on loan to Dortmund at the start of this season, and his performances so far have been nothing short of exceptional.
He has been one of the revelations of the season so far, sitting joint-top of the Bundesliga scorers chart despite just making four appearances.
He went on an incredible run of scoring 10 goals from 10 shots on target last month, and his seven league goals have come in just 204 minutes of Bundesliga action at an astonishing ratio of one goal every 28 minutes.
Even though the injury might have halted his momentum in recent weeks, at this rate, it is not hard to imagine that Dortmund would take up their option to buy him permanently at the end of the season.
#9 Luka Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt)
7 goals, 2 assists (68 mins/goal)
Luka Jovis is a Serbian international who currently plies his trade in Germany with Frankfurt since 2017 on a two-year loan deal from SL Benfica.
He made history in October, when he became the youngest player (20 years) to score five goals in a single Bundesliga match, when he did so in a 7-1 home win over Fortuna Dusseldorf.
He sits joint-top of the Bundesliga scorers chart, and his seven goals have helped Frankfurt to the fifth place on the league table.
#8 Dries Mertens
7 goals, 3 assists (89 mins/goal)
The 31-year-old Belgian international has been a steady performer for Napoli since his 2013 arrival from PSV, but he saw an exponential rise in his contributions when he was converted to an auxiliary striker by Maurizio Sarri following the departure of Higuain in 2016, and the injury sustained to his replacement Arkadiusz Milik.
He ended the 2016/2017 season with 28 goals, one behind Golden Boot winner Eden Dzeko, and was named into the Serie A team of the season.
He followed that up with 22 goals last season, as he spearheaded Napoli's exciting but ultimately fruitless quest for the Scudetto, and has scored seven so far this term from 11 appearances.
#7 Sebastian Haller (Eintracht Frankfurt)
7 goals, 5 assists (105 mins/goal)
The 24-year-old signed for Frankfurt from Dutch Club Utrecht in 2017 on a four-year deal, and has become an integral part of the starting line-up.
He scored nine goals from 31 appearances last season, but has exploded into form this camapign, scoring seven goals from 10 matches to help Frankfurt to the fifth spot on the standings.
#6 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
7 goals, 4 assists (116 mins/goal)
Sergio Aguero needs no introduction to football fans anywhere in the world, as the 30-year-old has cemented his status as a premier striker with his performances for Manchester City in the last six years.
He arrived Manchester City in 2012 from Atletico Madrid, and has since then gone on to establish himself as arguably the greatest player in the club's history, helping them to numerous titles, and finishing as the club's highest goalscorer in each of the seasons he has been at the club.
The 2012 Premier League title was won off his boot, as the Argentine international scored the winner on the last day in dramatic circumstances to give City her first league title in over half a century.
He became the club's all-time record goalscorer last season, and has continued from where he left this season to help the club sit top of the Premier League standings.
Aguero's goal in the 6-1 victory over Southampton at the weekend made him only the ninth player to score 150 goals, doing so in just 217 matches (the second fastest, five matches more than Alan Shearer who needed 212 matches to reach the milestone). He however did it in the fewest minutes in competition history.
He did so in 16,095 minutes (268 hours), which is 36 hours quicker than the 18,293 minutes it took Shearer to get his.
Manchester City are on a quest to become a footballing dynasty, and with Aguero leading the line in the form he is in, then that dream has every chance of becoming a reality.
#5 Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)
8 goals, 0 assists (117 minutes/goal)
Following an ill-fated spell which lasted two seasons at Liverpool, Iago Aspas returned home to Celta Vigo in 2015 and since then has reestablished himself as one of the most important Spanish players in La Liga.
The 31-year-old is integral to everything Celta Vigo does, having a hand in almost all of the goals scored by the Galicians.
He scored 22 goals in La Liga last season, finishing fourth on the scorers' chart behind legends Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez to help Celta Vigo qualify for the Europa Lague, and has continued his fine form this season with eight goals from ten matches.
#4 Christhian Stuani (Girona)
8 goals, 0 assists (102 mins/goal)
Another striker who returned to Spain from England, Stuani spent two seasons at Middlesbrough, and helped the club achieve promotion in 2016, but was powerless to stop their return after just one season in the top flight.
Following Boro's relegation, he was transferred to Girona ahead of the 2017/2018 season, and the Catalans were competing in La Liga for the first time ever in their modest history.
Stuani scored 19 goals (fifth highest) in 30 appearances in his debut campaign to help the club finish in tenth place, which was remarkable considering the fact that they were earmarked as relegation candidates at the start of the season.
He brought his impressive form into the current campaign, and currently has eight goals from ten matches to sit joint-second in the scorers' charts.
#3 Ciro Immobile (Lazio)
8 goals, 1 assist (116 mins/ goal)
Ciro Immobile is unarguably the most important player at Lazio, and it is hard to find a player more crucial to their club's fortunes than the 28-year-old.
The Italian international also had bad spells abroad, most notably at Dortmund and Sevilla, but returned home to the league where he does his thing best, signing for Lazio in 2016 and the move has proved immensely beneficial for club and player.
Immobile finished as the joint-top scorer in the 2017/2018 Serie A season with 28 goals (alongside Mauro Icardi), and his goals were immensely beneficial as Lazio sought but ultimately failed to qualify for the Champions League, leading to much consternation that he was not among the nominees for the Ballon d'Or.
He is currently second in the Capocannoniere (Serie A highest goalscorer) race, and it says a lot about Immobile's abilities that he has so far outscored the legendary Ronaldo.
#2 Krzysztof Piatek
9 goals, 0 assists (104 mins/ goal)
Not much was known about Piatek when he was signed from Cracovia by Geno at the start of the current season, but everyone associated with Italian football right now knows all about the 23-year-old.
The Polish international had built a reputation for himself as a solid goal poacher in the Estraklassa, finishing as the third highest goal scorer last season, at the end of last season, but doing it in the Polish league is one thing, and doing so in one of the greatest leagues in the world is an entirely different matter.
Piatek has scored 9 goals from 11 matches, which is more than illustrious names such as Ciro Immobile, Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, Eden Dzeko and the mythical Cristiano Ronaldo have managed, and at this rate, it is hard to see him not making a move to a bigger club next season.
#1 Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
9 goals, 4 assists (102 minutes/goal)
Suarez has arguably been the best striker in the world over the last five seasons, and unarguably one of the greatest in the history of football.
The 31-year-old has carved a penchant for scoring goals, and is the only man in history to have won the Golden Boot in the Netherlands, England and Spain, as well as the only player to have pipped the eternal duo of Messi and Ronaldo to the European Golden Boot (which he has done on two occasions).
He has long established his reputation with Ajax and Liverpool as well as the Uruguayan national team, but it is at Barcelona where he took his repertoire to the next level, helping the club to a treble in his debut season, despite spending the first three months out of the side due to his ban.
Suarez began this campaign slowly, and has endured criticisms in recent times due to his struggles, but following Messi's injury, Suarez was earmarked as one of the players to lead the club in their talisman's absence, and he delivered, helping the club to four wins from five matches without Lionel Messi.
His statement performance came in the El Clasico where he scored a hat-trick to help the Blaugrana down Real Madrid in a 5-1 triumph, while he was also on hand to score the winner in last weekend's La Liga clash with Real Valladolid.
