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It is a generally held view that strikers are the most sought after position in football due to their unique ability to master the art of goalscoring and the more frequently one does it, the pricier they become.
Scoring is the aim of every football match (no one wants to spend time watching a dour goalless draw), as goals win matches, points and trophies. For this reason, the goalscorers are placed in such a high premium.
There are numerous awards designed to reward goalscorers, with Golden Boots (not always Golden) being the most frequent. However, the most prestigious of all Golden Boot awards in Europe is arguably the European Golden Shoe, as it shows superiority over all other forwards not just in any domestic league, but throughout the continent.
Lionel Messi is the current holder of the award, after winning it for a record fifth time at the end of last season, while previous winners include the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Francesco Totti, Thierry Henry, Diego Forlan, Ronaldo de Lima, Romario and Marco Van Basten.
Having entered the business end of the campaign, the race is beginning to narrow down and we now have a clearer picture of the race. In this piece, we present the top 10 candidates in the race for the 2019 European Golden Shoe.
Note - All stats correct as of March 3, 2019
#10 Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
League - Spanish LaLiga (X2)
16 GOALS (32 POINTS)
Luis Suarez is no stranger to winning Golden Boots, having done so in the Eredivisie, the Premier League and La Liga (the only man to achieve this feat), while he is also a two-time winner of the European Golden Shoe.
The Uruguayan international started this season slowly, leading many to call for his replacement, but he has since settled into form. He was the architect behind Barcelona's 5-1 dismantling of eternal rivals Real Madrid in October, with his hat-trick costing Julen Lopetegui his job as Madrid boss (in the process, he became the first player other than Messi to record a Clasico hat-trick since Romario in 1994).
In the month of February, the 32-year-old scored one goal from four La Liga matches to add to his previous 15 and help Barcelona maintain a healthy seven-point gap atop the standings and keep up their quest for a unique treble this season.
#9 Harry Kane - (Tottenham)
League - English Premier League (X2)
16 GOALS (32 POINTS)
Harry Kane has grown from a fringe member of the Tottenham squad who endured multiple loan transfers early on in his career to becoming the talisman of the club in their recent transformation into Premier League contenders.
Kane has been one of the standout strikers in the world over the last few years and this season has been no exception, as he currently finds himself on 16 goals from 25 matches, while his overall contribution has also improved, evidenced by the four assists he has set up for teammates.
The 25-year-old England international missed much of February, having been ruled out for six weeks due to an injury sustained in the 1-0 loss to Manchester United in January. But true to his form, he made a goalscoring return in the 2-1 victory over Burnley in the penultimate match of February, while also scoring the equalizer from the spot in the North London derby last weekend.
#8 Mo Salah (Liverpool)
League - English Premier League
16 GOALS (32 POINTS)
From relative obscurity at AS Roma, Mo Salah has morphed into a genuine world beater and is currently one of the most outstanding forwards on the planet.
Following on from his record-breaking debut season at Anfield where he scored 44 goals in all competitions and was named the PFA, CAF and PWA Player of the Year, in addition to making a podium finish at the Ballon d'Or and FIFA awards, Salah has continued with his rich vein of form this term and is the spearhead of Liverpool's charge for a first ever Premier League title.
The month of February saw the Egyptian international score just one goal in 4 PL matches, while in total he has netted 16 times and provided seven assists. Even though it is some way off the standards he set last season, Salah is still among the forerunners to be named the 2019 PFA Player of the Year.
#7 Edinson Cavani (PSG)
League - French Ligue 1 (X2)
17 GOALS (34 POINTS)
Edinson Cavani has been one of the premier strikers in the world over the last few years, winning Golden Boots in two different countries (once in Italy and twice in France).
Despite having more than his fair share of detractors, what cannot be taken away from the Uruguayan international is the consistency with which he has scored goals throughout his career.
So far this season, the 32-year-old has scored 17 goals and registered four assists from just 16 Ligue 1 matches to help PSG coast their way to retaining their league title.
Those numbers would undoubtedly have been higher but for a series of niggling injuries which have plagued him throughout this season (ruling him out for a total of eight weeks), with the latest setback being a muscle injury sustained since the middle of February.
#6 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
League - English Premier League (X2)
18 GOALS (36 POINTS)
Sergio Aguero has established himself as one of the most lethal strikers in the world since his arrival in England with Manchester City in the summer of 2011.
He embedded himself into City folklore forever when he scored the title-winning goal with the last kick of the season in the 2011-12 campaign to help the Citizens to their first ever Premier League title. He has since grown from strength to strength.
With 223 goals, he is Manchester City's all-time record goalscorer and arguably the greatest player in the club's history, while he also holds a number of other league records.
This campaign has seen Aguero continue his rich vein of form, as last month saw him equal the legendary Alan Shearer's record for most hat-tricks in Premier League history when he scored back-to-back hat-tricks against Arsenal and Chelsea in February to take his overall tally to 11.
So far this season, the 30-year-old has weighed in with 18 goals which sees him top the Premier League scorers chart, which is rather remarkable considering he was ruled out for a number of weeks earlier in the season due to injury. He also has six assists to his name.
#5 Krzysztof Piatek (AC Milan)
League - Italian Serie A (X2)
18 GOALS (36 POINTS)
The Pole currently sits third in the Serie A top-scorers chart with 18 goals, with his tally being higher than established superstars such as Mauro Icardi, Eden Dzeko and Ciro Immobile.
Earlier this season, he became the first man since the legendary Gabriel Batistuta to score in each of the first seven Serie A matches of the campaign and his fine form in Genoa caught the attention of Europe's major sides, with reports emanating that Barcelona backed down from making a deal for him in January, signing Prince Boateng instead, while he was also reportedly on Real Madrid's radar.
As it happened, the Spanish giants' loss happened to be AC Milan's gain, as he was snapped up for a reported fee of €35m to cover for Gonzalo Higuain, who joined Chelsea.
The Polish international brought his scoring boots with him to the San Siro, netting a brace in his first start in the Coppa Italia victory over Napoli. He scored four goals in his next three fixtures to help propel Milan to third place in the league table.
So far this season, Piatek has scored 18 goals from 24 matches as he continues to push Ronaldo all the way in the race to be crowned Serie A's Capocannoniere.
#4 Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria)
League - Italian Serie A (X2)
19 GOALS (38 POINTS)
Sampdoria currently find themselves battling for a European spot and a lot of it is down to the form of their 36-year-old red hot striker, who has scored over 40% of their total Serie A goals.
Earlier in the season, Fabio Quagliarella achieved the unique feat of scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A fixtures to equal the mark set by the legendary Gabriel Batistuta over 20 years ago. But unfortunately, the streak came to an end in the 3-0 defeat to Napoli at the start of February.
The month of February saw the former Napoli and Udinese man score just one goal in four Serie A matches, but Quagliarella has kicked off March in impressive form, scoring a brace in the 2-1 away victory over SPAL to move him level with Ronaldo in his quest for the Serie A Golden Boot this season.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
League - Italian Serie A (X2)
19 GOALS (38 POINTS)
Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines all over the world when he made a mega-money move from Real Madrid to Juventus in the summer of 2018.
The Portuguese superstar has been a record breaker throughout his career, and he has continued with that trend in Italy.
Despite starting off rather slowly by his extraterrestrial standards, the 34-year-old has settled into form over the last few months and has started banging in goals in the manner we have been accustomed to witnessing throughout his career.
February saw Ronaldo score four goals in four Serie A matches, and with 19 goals in total, the 5-time Ballon d'Or winner finds himself top of the scorers' chart in Italy, in addition to leading the way in terms of assists made.
With Ronaldo's goals all but guaranteed to win Juventus her eighth consecutive Scudetto, it is in Europe where fans of the Old Ladies would be expecting the Portuguese to deliver the most. Their upcoming fixture against Atletico is the perfect setting for the icon to announce his European ambitions with Juventus.
#2 Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
League - French Ligue 1 (X2)
24 GOALS (48 POINTS)
Considering Kylian Mbappe's meteoric rise to superstardom, it was always going to be difficult for him to keep up his trajectory. However, from what we've seen of the World Cup winner, it is not in his nature to rest on his laurels.
This season, the 20-year-old has taken his goalscoring to an entirely different level, leading the scorers' chart in the Ligue 1 with 24 goals, while also registering six assists from just 21 matches. He set a number of records in the process including being the youngest player in Ligue 1 history to score four goals in a match (19 years and nine months) when he did so in PSG's 5-0 demolition of Lyon.
The month of February saw Mbappe score four goals in five league matches, while he began March by scoring twice in the 2-1 away win over Caen to further extend his lead in the goalscorers' list in France and move ever closer to Lionel Messi in his bid to win a first-ever European Golden Shoe.
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
League - Spanish La Liga (x2)
25 GOALS (50 POINTS)
Icon, legend, Messiah, great, GOAT - these are some of the adjectives used to describe Lionel Messi and there is the feeling that any word used to quantify the mercurial Argentine must have a cliche feel to them, as the dictionary must have run out of words to quantify his extreme abilities.
Messi is unarguably one of the best players in history, but what makes him special is not just his goalscoring abilities as he also possesses a high level of creativity, in addition to excellent technique and vision.
Alongside Ronaldo, Messi has totally revolutionalised the way we see the game of football, setting the bar so high that it is hard to imagine a world of football without the iconic duo.
This season has seen Messi continue in his extraordinary performance and the month of February saw him score six goals in just four matches including a hat-trick against Sevilla to take his total tally to 25 league goals for the season, while also registering 11 assists (both of which are the highest in Europe).
With five European Golden Shoes won, Lionel Messi is the most prolific goalscorer in the history of the European game and with 25 goals, the 31-year-old currently leads the way in what is looking likely to be a sixth overall and third consecutive European Golden Shoe.
