The race for the European Golden Shoe - December 2018 watch

#8 Kryzytof Piatek (Genoa)

League - Italy Serie A

League coefficient (x2)

10 goals (20 points)

Kryzsztof Piatek

Perhaps the biggest revelation of the season in all of Europe. Piatek is a 23-year-old Polish international, who had spent all of his previous professional career in the Polish leagues.

After scoring 21 goals during the 2017/2018 Estraklassa in Poland which saw him finish as the third highest goalscorer in the Polish top division, Genoa paid €4 million for his services to Cracovia at the start of June.

Owing to his relatively obscure past, not much was expected from Piatek on his arrival in Serie A, but he has absolutely shocked everyone with his performances thus far, and currently sits joint-top the Serie A scorers chart with ten goals, 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 his first seven Serie A matches, and he is surely looking like a bargain for the price he was bought.

Piatek has scored almost half of Genoa's goals in Serie A this season, and if the club is to challenge for a top half finish, Piatek's goals would be crucial to that.

#7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)

League - England Premier League

League coefficient (x2)

10 goals (20 points)

Aubameyang

Establishing himself as an elite striker with his performances for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, the Gabonese international finished as the Bundesliga top scorer in 2017 with 31 goals from 32 matches ahead of Robert Lewandowski.

He fell out with the BVB board, and was agitating for a move away from Germany, literally begging for one of Europe's big sides to come and take him away.

It therefore came as a surprise when none of the established European clubs sought his services, especially seeing as most of them including Chelsea and Manchester United had problems in the striking department.

As it happened, Arsene Wenger was the one with the foresight to bring the 29-year-old to the EPL, splashing a club record fee to sign him on transfer deadline day in January 2018.

To say that Auba has repaid the investment would be a massive understatement, as he has scored 20 goals in just 27 EPL matches.

This season, Aubameyang has been exquisite, sitting top of the Premier League scorers chart with 10 goals (which is no mean feat when you consider the quality of attackers on display in the league). And his goals are a crucial factor in the club's 19-match unbeaten run.