Top strikers of the 21st century ranked by G+A/minutes involvement over their club careers.

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

I did this out of curiosity but I thought I'd post it here since it could interest some of you guys.

To clarify these numbers are CLUB only, they don't take NT into account,-I may have forgotten some strikers of course, at first I was focusing on the 2010-20 decade but then I thought it'd be fun to compare their numbers to Henry/R9/RvN.
All stats come from Transfermarkt.

Here's how the 15 strikers ranks.

15) Wayne Rooney : 313 goals, 167 assists in 60,163 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 125.235 minutes (Premier League, MLS, Championship)

14) Samuel Eto'o 360 goals, 117 assists in 57,865 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 121.310 minutes (La Liga, Serie A, Premier Liga, Premier League, Super Lig,Stars League)

13) Didier Drogba 300 goals, 125 assists in 48,379 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 113,832 minutes (Ligue 2, Ligue 1, Premier League, Super League, Super Lig, MLS)

12) Thierry Henry : 360 goals, 175 assist in 59.116 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 110.497 minutes (Ligue 1, Serie A, Premier League, Liga, MLS)

11) Gonzalo Higuain : 307 goals, 103 assists in 44,561 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 108.685 minutes (Torneo Clausura/Apertura, Liga, Serie A, Premier League, MLS)

10) Edinson Cavani : 348 goals, 67 assists in 44.249 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 106.624 minutes (Serie A, Ligue 1,Premier League)

9) Robin Van Persie : 274 goals 99 assists in 39.537 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 105.997 minutes (Eredivisie, Premier League, Super Lig)

8) Ruud Van Nistelrooy : 327 goals 66 assists in 40.775 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 103.753 minutes (Eredivisie, Premier League, Liga, Bundesliga)

7) Harry Kane : 241 goals 62 assists in 30263 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 99.877 minutes (Championship, Premier League)

6) Sergio Aguero : 375 goals, 119 assists in 47.944 minutes , averaging a goal/assist every 97.052 minutes (Torneo Clausura/Apertura, Liga, Premier League)

5) Karim Benzema : 338 goals 167 assists in 48,571 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 96.180 minutes (Ligue 1, Liga)

4) Ronaldo Nazario : 296 goals, 77 assists in 35.625 minutes averaging a goal/assist every 95.509 minutes (Eredivisie, Liga, Serie A, Série A)

3) Zlatan Ibrahimovic : 483 goals, 186 assists in 61,391 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 91.765 minutes (Eredivisie, Serie A, Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League, MLS)

2) Robert Lewandowski : 453 goals, 127 assists in 51,327 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 88,494 minutes (Ekstraklasa, Bundesliga)

1) Luis Suarez : 421 goals, 236 assists in 53,881 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 82.010 minutes. (Eredivisie, Premier League, Liga)

 

[B20]

I was just thinking to myself yesterday that, excluding Messi and Ronaldo, Suarez is probably the best forward football has seen since fatty Ronaldo.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

I was just thinking to myself yesterday that, excluding Messi and Ronaldo, Suarez is probably the best forward football has seen since fatty Ronaldo.

He isn't even that far off of Ronaldo who scores or assist a goal every 80.530 minutes

Truly a monster of a player.

 

[roonster09]

He isn't even that far off of Ronaldo who scores or assist a goal every 80.530 minutes

Truly a monster of a player.

Surely you have to consider leagues also? For example Suarez has 200 goals + assists in Dutch league.

 

[anant]

I'd expect Kane to end up below RVN by the time his career ends.

Also, what'd be fun is if we can somehow normalize the goal contribution by season. i.e. we know there are more goals scored today than in early 2000s. I'm quite sure RVN and Henry would end up higher in the list post that, and R9 would comfortably top the charts

 

[Pexbo]

If Henry emerged 10 years later as a wide forward he would have put up some ridiculous numbers not far behind Messi/Ronaldo. He was ahead of his time and the game was far more balanced between defence and attack back then.

 

[11101]

What are the numbers for CR7 and Messi?

I'm not asking you to actually do this, but it would be interesting to see the stats with some kind of weighting applied to the different leagues.

 

[hasanejaz88]

I'm surprised, actually not considering how he's so underrated, Mario Gomez isn't on the list:

He would fall at Number 9 on the list in front of RVP and behind Ruud:

Mario Gomez : 284 goals, 72 assists in 37,415 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 105.1 minutes (Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga, Serie A and Turkish Super Lig)

 

[Skills]

What are the numbers for CR7 and Messi?

I'm not asking you to actually do this, but it would be interesting to see the stats with some kind of weighting applied to the different leagues.

From transfermarkt :

Messi
62,517 minutes - 661 Goals, 290 assists - 65.7 mins per goal or assist

Cristiano Ronaldo
72,075 minutes - 668 goals, 227 assists - 80.5 mins per goal or assist

 

[James Peril]

Suarez is/was one heck of a player, but what he does in a semi-professional league in the Netherlands has zero value. Same goes for what Steven Gerrard does in Scotland, if we can even call that semi-professional.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

From transfermarkt :

Messi
62,517 minutes - 661 Goals, 290 assists - 65.7 mins per goal or assist

Cristiano Ronaldo
72,075 minutes - 668 goals, 227 assists - 80.5 mins per goal or assist

Messi really is a level above Ronaldo even going by just stats.

 

[Gio]

Suarez is/was one heck of a player, but what he does in a semi-professional league in the Netherlands has zero value. Same goes for what Steven Gerrard does in Scotland, if we can even call that semi-professional.

I'm sure Sir Alex would agree that what he did at Aberdeen has zero value and befitting the amateur game.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Suarez is/was one heck of a player, but what he does in a semi-professional league in the Netherlands has zero value. Same goes for what Steven Gerrard does in Scotland, if we can even call that semi-professional.

Some of these players have had better g+a involvement in top 5 leagues than in MLS for example. Its hard to draw the line sometimes. Many of them moved to lower leagues when they were past it and had slown down considerably goalscoring wise so I couldn't just exclude non-top 5 statistics

If Henry emerged 10 years later as a wide forward he would have put up some ridiculous numbers not far behind Messi/Ronaldo. He was ahead of his time and the game was far more balanced between defence and attack back then.

Perhaps. I think Henry mostly suffers from having quite a slow start to his career goalscoring wise (in Ligue 1/Serie A) before he suddenly started bagging 20+ goals every season for Arsenal.

I'm surprised, actually not considering how he's so underrated, Mario Gomez isn't on the list:

He would fall at Number 9 on the list in front of RVP and behind Ruud:

Mario Gomez : 284 goals, 72 assists in 37,415 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 105.1 minutes (Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga, Serie A and Turkish Super Lig)

Very impressive indeed. To be fair there are probably a couple players that would rank above a few of these players, I haven't checked but I guess Aubameyang and Lukaku are safe bets too.

 

[Stack]

Suarez is/was one heck of a player, but what he does in a semi-professional league in the Netherlands has zero value. Same goes for what Steven Gerrard does in Scotland, if we can even call that semi-professional.

you are funny

 

[Dan_F]

Surely you have to consider leagues also? For example Suarez has 200 goals + assists in Dutch league.

Would be interesting to see where he falls without those stats there, but then again, I’m sure you could say that for a lot of the players.

Ruud played loads of games in Holland too.

 

[Botim]

Suarez is/was one heck of a player, but what he does in a semi-professional league in the Netherlands has zero value. Same goes for what Steven Gerrard does in Scotland, if we can even call that semi-professional.

You must be a multimillionaire, calling a national football league semi-professional...

Top players earn about 4 million a year in the Eredivisie

 

[Lay]

Luca Toni would be interesting.

 

[DWelbz19]

Everyone being so angry at Suarez’s G/A in the Eredivisie is bizarre - especially when a few on that list have huge conflations in other leagues ‘weak leagues’ (cough cough epic Zlatan).

Would be interesting to see where he falls without those stats there, but then again, I’m sure you could say that for a lot of the players.

Ruud played loads of games in Holland too.

Here you go, they’re actually better without them.

Luis Suarez (less Ajax and Groningen contributions); 295 goals 161 assists, 37,116 mins. Leads to a 81.39 mins per G/A.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Some of these players have had better g+a involvement in top 5 leagues than in MLS for example. Its hard to draw the line sometimes. Many of them moved to lower leagues when they were past it and had slown down considerably goalscoring wise so I couldn't just exclude non-top 5 statistics


Perhaps. I think Henry mostly suffers from having quite a slow start to his career goalscoring wise (in Ligue 1/Serie A) before he suddenly started bagging 20+ goals every season for Arsenal.


Very impressive indeed. To be fair there are probably a couple players that would rank above a few of these players, I haven't checked but I guess Aubameyang and Lukaku are safe bets too.

What's more impressive about Gomez is that one of his best minutes per g/a ratio is in the UCL (83 mins per g/a with 26 goals and 6 assists), which is better than everyone else on that list.

Aubamayeng would suffer from the days he played as a winger at St Ettiene and his early days at Dortmund. His ratio is actually 113 mins per g/a, which isn't bad at all, while Lukaku is at 114 mins per g/a.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

If Henry emerged 10 years later as a wide forward he would have put up some ridiculous numbers not far behind Messi/Ronaldo. He was ahead of his time and the game was far more balanced between defence and attack back then.

Yep.

Also to be noted - RVN played for a less than prolific United team, Lewandowski had the benefit of playing in a single team dominated league and Zlatan did a lot of stat padding in the French league as well dominating mainly in a declined Serie A.

 

[DWelbz19]

I know this is specifically for strikers, but I wanted to check how Neymar fared, as I imagine he’d be very close.

Neymar (Campeonato Brasileiro; La Liga; Ligue 1) 258 goals, 158 assists, 34,589 minutes. Leads to 83.14 per G/A.

If this damn guy didn’t become so injury prone since joining PSG... he’s been in Paris for the same amount of years as he was at Barca but the minutes at Barcelona are 15,000~ whilst at PSG he’s down at 8,700~! Near enough two full seasons worth of matches he’s missed through injuries.
——————
The Prodigal Sons: Mbappe and Haaland do not have anywhere near the minutes so their stats are inflated a little (either are yet to hit a rocky patch) - but both at around 71 mins per G/A. Mbappe with 15,000~ minutes, Haaland just under 9,000.

 

[P-Nut]

If you did the opposite of this and only took national team statistics I'd bank on Klose being high up the list. Seemed to score every game I watched Germany play.

 

[P-Nut]

I know this is specifically for strikers, but I wanted to check how Neymar fared, as I imagine he’d be very close.

Neymar (Campeonato Brasileiro; La Liga; Ligue 1) 258 goals, 158 assists, 34,589 minutes. Leads to 83.14 per G/A.

If this damn guy didn’t become so injury prone since joining PSG... he’s been in Paris for the same amount of years as he was at Barca but the minutes at Barcelona are 15,000~ whilst at PSG he’s down at 8,700~! Near enough two full seasons worth of matches he’s missed through injuries.
——————
The Prodigal Sons: Mbappe and Haaland do not have anywhere near the minutes so their stats are inflated a little (either are yet to hit a rocky patch) - but both at around 71 mins per G/A. Mbappe with 15,000~ minutes, Haaland just under 9,000.

How does Rashford compare to the 2 prodigals?

 

[DWelbz19]

How does Rashford compare to the 2 prodigals?

Not particularly close, but a still impressive ratio: Rashford’s 85 goals and 52 assists in 17,247 minutes comes in at about 125 mins per G/A.

Just another for fun comparison, Sancho: 70 goals, 71 assists, 12,758 minutes - 90~ minutes per G/A.

 

[P-Nut]

Not particularly close, but a still impressive ratio: Rashford’s 85 goals and 52 assists in 17,247 minutes comes in at about 125 mins per G/A.

Just another for fun comparison, Sancho: 70 goals, 71 assists, 12,758 minutes - 90~ minutes per G/A.

Strange how close he is to Rooney albeit obviously with much less time under his belt.

 

[pacifictheme]

Impressive that rooney is so high considering how much of his career wasn't as a striker.

 

[Zlatattack]

Can anyone figure out where Alan Shearer sits here?

 

[ryadmahrez]

Suarez had the best premier league season ever statistically. These numbers therefore don’t surprise me.

And I knew there would be some people doubting him, because he isn’t the typical premier league sort of player. But had he stayed in the premier league, he would be the GOAT player of the Premier League.

 

[Gio]

Can anyone figure out where Alan Shearer sits here?

118 minutes over his career, going by Transfermarkt. Not sure how accurate the pre-2006 assist data are though. Imagine there's a big difference pre and post injury in 97/98.

 

[Eli Zee]

Oh man, it would've been great if you included their G/A per x minutes records per league, as well as with them all combined so we could see if they did better based on leagues too.

I hate that Suarez is so good

 

[NasirTimothy]

I did this out of curiosity but I thought I'd post it here since it could interest some of you guys.

To clarify these numbers are CLUB only, they don't take NT into account,-I may have forgotten some strikers of course, at first I was focusing on the 2010-20 decade but then I thought it'd be fun to compare their numbers to Henry/R9/RvN.
All stats come from Transfermarkt.

Here's how the 15 strikers ranks.

15) Wayne Rooney : 313 goals, 167 assists in 60,163 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 125.235 minutes (Premier League, MLS, Championship)

14) Samuel Eto'o 360 goals, 117 assists in 57,865 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 121.310 minutes (La Liga, Serie A, Premier Liga, Premier League, Super Lig,Stars League)

13) Didier Drogba 300 goals, 125 assists in 48,379 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 113,832 minutes (Ligue 2, Ligue 1, Premier League, Super League, Super Lig, MLS)

12) Thierry Henry : 360 goals, 175 assist in 59.116 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 110.497 minutes (Ligue 1, Serie A, Premier League, Liga, MLS)

11) Gonzalo Higuain : 307 goals, 103 assists in 44,561 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 108.685 minutes (Torneo Clausura/Apertura, Liga, Serie A, Premier League, MLS)

10) Edinson Cavani : 348 goals, 67 assists in 44.249 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 106.624 minutes (Serie A, Ligue 1,Premier League)

9) Robin Van Persie : 274 goals 99 assists in 39.537 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 105.997 minutes (Eredivisie, Premier League, Super Lig)

8) Ruud Van Nistelrooy : 327 goals 66 assists in 40.775 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 103.753 minutes (Eredivisie, Premier League, Liga, Bundesliga)

7) Harry Kane : 241 goals 62 assists in 30263 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 99.877 minutes (Championship, Premier League)

6) Sergio Aguero : 375 goals, 119 assists in 47.944 minutes , averaging a goal/assist every 97.052 minutes (Torneo Clausura/Apertura, Liga, Premier League)

5) Karim Benzema : 338 goals 167 assists in 48,571 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 96.180 minutes (Ligue 1, Liga)

4) Ronaldo Nazario : 296 goals, 77 assists in 35.625 minutes averaging a goal/assist every 95.509 minutes (Eredivisie, Liga, Serie A, Série A)

3) Zlatan Ibrahimovic : 483 goals, 186 assists in 61,391 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 91.765 minutes (Eredivisie, Serie A, Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League, MLS)

2) Robert Lewandowski : 453 goals, 127 assists in 51,327 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 88,494 minutes (Ekstraklasa, Bundesliga)

1) Luis Suarez : 421 goals, 236 assists in 53,881 minutes, averaging a goal/assist every 82.010 minutes. (Eredivisie, Premier League, Liga)

Interesting read. The main hole in Luis Suarez’s resume is that he has not been very good in the Champions League (just in terms of pure goal numbers: obviously he is a CL winner) and I’m not really sure why that is

 

[arnie_ni]

Interesting read. The main hole in Luis Suarez’s resume is that he has not been very good in the Champions League (just in terms of pure goal numbers: obviously he is a CL winner) and I’m not really sure why that is

Have Barca as whole not been poor during his time there or have I made that up?

 

[B20]

Everyone being so angry at Suarez’s G/A in the Eredivisie is bizarre - especially when a few on that list have huge conflations in other leagues ‘weak leagues’ (cough cough epic Zlatan).

Here you go, they’re actually better without them.

Luis Suarez (less Ajax and Groningen contributions); 295 goals 161 assists, 37,116 mins. Leads to a 81.39 mins per G/A.

 

[troylocker]

Lukaku should get a mention as well, I think.
He sits on a goal/assist per 114 minutes

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Interesting read. The main hole in Luis Suarez’s resume is that he has not been very good in the Champions League (just in terms of pure goal numbers: obviously he is a CL winner) and I’m not really sure why that is

That's true his league record is overall a lot better than his CL record. For whatever reason that is. He seems to have adapted perfectly to La Liga's playing style but struggles a lot more in Europe

Have Barca as whole not been poor during his time there or have I made that up?

Well they won their group 6 times out of the 6 seasons he spent there, with 1 CL win, 4 quarterfinals and 1 semifinals. Wouldn't say they were doing that poorly as a team goalscoring wise.

 

[Dave Smith]

Be interested to see what the stats are for the following players:

Luca Toni
Pipo Inzaghi
Diego Costa

 

[DWelbz19]

Interesting read. The main hole in Luis Suarez’s resume is that he has not been very good in the Champions League (just in terms of pure goal numbers: obviously he is a CL winner) and I’m not really sure why that is

Something like 26 away matches in a row he’s not scored in the CL! Crazy stat.

 

[acnumber9]

Surely you have to consider leagues also? For example Suarez has 200 goals + assists in Dutch league.

Just what I was thinking. Drogba’s includes Ligue 2 as well.

 

[Boavista]

Yep.

Also to be noted - RVN played for a less than prolific United team, Lewandowski had the benefit of playing in a single team dominated league and Zlatan did a lot of stat padding in the French league as well dominating mainly in a declined Serie A.

Obviously it's good to take context into account, but I don't think calling Zlatan's best seasons stat padding is entirely fair. In his 4 seasons in France, PSG scored:
69 goals in 12/13
84 in 13/14
83 in 14/15
102 in 15/16
which is really not that outlandish compared to the best teams in the premier league. Man city and Liverpool have both scored more than 100 goals in a number of seasons in the past decade, so did Chelsea in 09/10. PSG has done it twice since Ibra left, but that's beside the point. Even Bayern's goal per game average most seasons isn't all that different to whoever is doing really well in the PL.

Overall it's interesting how the game has evolved, teams score more these days it seems and that applies to the premier league too. So that does make it difficult to compare someone like RVN, but even he didn't always play in a less than prolific team. His first season in England, Utd scored 87 goals for instance, although that only landed them in 3rd. Granted that 04/05 season was less than prolific at 58 goals scored, but 77 points from that is pretty impressive. Teams just scored less those days, and overall needed fewer points to become champions, most years anyway.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Be interested to see what the stats are for the following players:

Luca Toni
Pipo Inzaghi
Diego Costa

Luca Toni 295 goals 59 assists in 49,120 minutes averaging a goal/assist every 139.011 minutes

Pipo Inzaghi 279 goals 45 assists in 41,871 minutes averaging a goal/assist every 129.231 minutes

Diego Costa 181 goals, 71 assists in 34,836 minutes averaging a goal/assist every 138.238 minutes