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At this stage of the 2021-22 season, predicting the winner of the European Golden Boot is incredibly hard, much like picking the top-five favorites to win the Premier League title! There are some gifted goalscorers across the continent at the moment and the usual suspects will be in the mix once again.
Before I rank my top five favorites for the European Golden Boot this season, I want to list out a few honorable mentions. I know some world-class goalscorers have not made the cut, but I've explained the reasons behind my picks after going through several team sheets across the major European leagues.
Robert Lewandowski is currently one of my favorite players in world football and should ideally be in the top five, but I just have a feeling that Bayern Munich will not be able to create enough chances for him this season. I'm a big fan of him and in many ways, I hope he proves me wrong, but it's more about the team he's in than his ability.
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As for Cristiano Ronaldo, I'm not convinced. I love him as a player and what he's accomplished over the years, but Juventus as a team aren't as good as they used to be, so I don't think he'll be one of the favorites for the European Golden Boot.
After his heroics on Saturday, I thought about including Bruno Fernandes! He's been incredible since joining Manchester United and has scored goals consistently, but it remains to be seen if he can sustain it and put himself in the running for the award.
If there was a top seven or a top eight, these three players would definitely make my list, but here are the five players I've tipped to be front-runners for the European Golden Boot this season.
#5 Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel rotates his squad a lot, but Romelu Lukaku is going to make a massive difference for Chelsea this season. Timo Werner has squandered a handful of glorious goalscoring opportunities over the past 12 months, but Lukaku puts those chances away with ease.
Chelsea have plenty of goals in them, but he is a player who could be a game-changer for them and is coming on the back of a really impressive spell with Inter Milan, having spearheaded them to the Serie A title last season. Lukaku knows the Premier League inside out and you could even say he's got unfinished business at Chelsea, so he'll look to hit the ground running almost immediately.
He can head the ball, score from distance and take players on - he's got everything you want from a big center forward. Chelsea had the money to spend after winning the UEFA Champions League last season and they went out there and got Lukaku. He's a formidable player and a fantastic goalscorer who is up there with the best signings of the summer.
#4 Kylian Mbappe | Paris Saint-Germain
I know the coefficients could be different when it comes to Ligue 1, but Paris Saint-Germain have two players who could be in contention for the European Golden Boot, the first of which is Kylian Mbappe. Much like Erling Haaland, he is a terrific young talent with a tremendous future ahead of him.
To explain the point I'd like to touch upon, I just quickly have to go back to Romelu Lukaku. His last hat-trick in club football came against Bournemouth almost four years ago. When you're a player who consistently scores 20+ goals a season without twos and threes in one game, you're scoring more frequently.
If you look at Mbappe's record, most of his goals are braces or hat tricks for Paris Saint-Germain, so maybe that's something he can add to his game. I'm not suggesting that it's a bad thing to score multiple goals in a single game, but scoring consistently over the course of a season is a clearer indication that you're a bigger threat in front of the net.
With Lionel Messi by his side, Mbappe is surely going to get more chances to add to his goal tally for PSG. With Neymar also at the club - that's quite the trio and they are going to run riot in Ligue 1!
Mbappe is coming on the back of a disappointing outing for France at Euro 2020. If he's going to be the player everyone expects him to be, he'll look to get his goalscoring boots on this season and be in the reckoning for the European Golden Boot alongside arguably the best player in the modern era.
#3 Lionel Messi | Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi has been the talk of the town in recent weeks and his decision to swap Barcelona for Paris came as a shock to the footballing fraternity. In my opinion, he is the greatest player of this generation and is not up there based purely on skill - his goalscoring record is absolutely staggering!
There's a considerable drop-off in quality between Ligue 1 and La Liga, so there is an opportunity for Messi to score goals for fun. With the side PSG have now - with Neymar and Mbappe joining the Argentine in attack - they could break the record for most goals scored in a single Ligue 1 season.
When PSG get free kicks in and around the penalty area, whose responsibility will it be now? Messi's penalty record is not the greatest but he is absolutely sensational at free-kicks, so we'll have to wait and see who's the boss when it comes to set-pieces.
PSG are amongst the most popular teams in world football, but Messi going there elevates them to a different level altogether. For the first time in his professional career, he'll be in a completely different environment, so it'll be interesting to see how he copes. That being said, the best players in the game find ways to adapt and run the show regardless of where they play, so I expect him to be up there in the running for the European Golden Boot once again.
#2 Mohamed Salah | Liverpool
Mohamed Salah is a player who brings a lot of joy to fans across the world. He's been a consistent goalscorer for Liverpool since joining the club in 2017, but in my opinion, he also tends to frustrate at times. Against Norwich City in Liverpool's Premier League opener, he scored one and set up two for his teammates, but you could argue that he could've possibly had more.
I'm not saying this as a bad thing, but last season, he was the focal point of Liverpool's attack and in many ways, it proved to be detrimental. With Diogo Jota back fully fit now and Sadio Mane looking rejuvenated after a lackluster season by his standards, Salah can play without pressure and that will give him the freedom to score a lot more goals.
With Virgil van Dijk back in the team and Alisson Becker returning to full fitness, Liverpool look like a force to be reckoned with once again. If they keep things tight at the back, it'll give the attackers a lot more confidence, which will in turn allow Salah to maintain his exploits in front of goal. Even by his lofty standards, this could be his standout season at Liverpool.
#1 Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund
Like Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland is a developing young player who has the chance to make a massive impression this season. His goalscoring exploits need no introduction - he seemingly picked up from where he left off last season and scored two goals on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga campaign!
Borussia Dortmund lost Jadon Sancho earlier this summer, but Haaland will learn how to be a top goalscorer this season and be in the running to win the European Golden Boot. Like I said earlier with Mbappe, he's someone who scores twos and threes as opposed to scoring more frequently, but he's more than capable of adding consistency to his game that'll see him become one of the most destructive attackers in world football.
Harry Kane has been linked with a record-breaking move to Manchester City this summer and that just made me think - why aren't Pep Guardiola and co in the reckoning for Haaland? He'll cost around the same amount of money as Kane but is considerably younger than the Englishman - the potential of him having a ten-year career at the club automatically makes him more desirable.
There are some incredible attackers in world football at the moment, but at this point in time, I fancy Erling Haaland to be one of the top contenders for the European Golden Boot due to his potency in front of goal.
Also Read: Jim Beglin column - Ranking the 5 greatest managers in Premier League history
