Top 5 contenders for the European Golden boot this season

As the teams around Europe gear up for the start of the 2018/19 season, attackers from all the major leagues are ready to battle to battle it out for goalscoring supremacy.

A title with the club is always the priority but an individual award has its own special place in the players' hearts and minds. One of the most sort after individual award is the European Golden Boot which is awarded to the highest goalscorer across the top divisions of Europe.

The award has been dominated by Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years but the last couple of seasons have seen the emergence of many new prospects. Here's a look at some of the favourites to win the Golden Boot this season:

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Special Mentions

Before we start the countdown for the top 5, some players are worth mentioning because they might just surprise everyone and bag this coveted prize due to their recent exploits in front of the goal.

Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan)

The Argentine striker had a brilliant league campaign with Inter last season that saw him bag 29 goals in Serie A. He was instrumental in Inter's 4th place finish that saw them qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2011.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Salah scored an incredible 44 goals in all competitions last season, with 32 of them coming in the Premier League- a record for a 38-game season. The only reason he doesn't make the top 5 is due to the consistency of the other competitors.

Finishing second, only behind Lionel Messi last season, the Egyptian winger will have a huge task on his hands if he has to replicate last season's exploits, with the defenders probably getting tighter to him this season.

Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

El Pistolero already has a couple of Golden Boots to his name and will be looking to add another one this season. While people considered the 2017/18 season to be a poor one for Suarez, he still managed to bag 25 goals in 33 games in La Liga.

Ciro Immobile (Lazio)

With 29 goals in 33 league games for Lazio last season, Immobile won the Serie A top scorer award, beating Inter's Mauro Icardi on the way. He outscored the likes of Lewandowski and Ronaldo last season and might surprise everyone by bagging the award this year.

#5 Harry Kane (Tottenham)

Harry Kane has won the Premier League golden boot two times

The Englishman has notched up a staggering 84 league goals in the past three campaigns, which is a testament to his consistency in front of goal. He has also been the Premier League's top goalscorer in two of the last three seasons despite his infamous knack of not finding the back of the net in the month of August.

Despite scoring 30 league goals last season, he lost out on a third consecutive golden boot award to the red-hot Mo Salah. The Englishman's goals played a very important role in propelling Spurs to an impressive third-place finish in the Premier League.

Kane fell just 4 goals short of the Golden Boot last season and would be highly motivated for the upcoming campaign after ending up as the top scorer at this year's world cup with 6 goals to his name.

#4 Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain)

Cavani will look to guide PSG to Europen glory this time around

The Uruguayan has found the back of the net on 170 occasions in just 245 appearances for the Parisians, making him their all-time leading goalscorer. The past two league campaigns alone has seen him net an incredible 63 times.

With the likes of Neymar and Mbappe supplying the Uruguayan, Cavani will not face the shortage of chances.

A decent world cup campaign would surely add to the striker's confidence and if he manages to take over the penalty duties from Neymar this season, he will surely fancy himself for his first European Golden Boot.

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

The Polish international has a lot to prove to Bayern fans this season

The Polish striker was heavily linked with a move away from the Allianz Arena this season but the move was denied publicly by chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Lewandowski has been instrumental in Bayern's recent domination of the Bundesliga, having won the championship six years on the bounce. Despite having notched up 29 league goals last season, it wasn't his best ever season in a Bayern shirt.

The 29-year old Polish international has won three straight golden boot awards in the league and the only disadvantage that Lewa faces is the fact that Bayern play only 34 league games as compared to the 38-games in other European leagues.

He will be looking to get the fans back behind him after a turbulent summer. There would be no better way to please them other than scoring lots of goals and that might get him his first European Golden Boot as well.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)

Ronaldo will look forward to more goalscoring exploits, but this time in the black and white of Juventus

After his sensational move to Juventus and the Serie A this summer, Cristiano Ronaldo would be looking forward to terrorizing the Italian defences this season.

A poor start to last year's league campaign and Zidane's rotational policy saw Ronaldo bag just 26 goals (in 27 league games), a disappointing return by his lofty standards.

In a league known for its defensive style of play, Ronaldo will have to work hard to notch up the kind of goalscoring numbers he was accustomed to at Real. But with players like Douglas Costa and Paulo Dybala assisting him, he has a very good chance of doing that.

With 4 Golden Boots to his name, he will look to equalize Leo Messi's record of 5 this year. And doing it in a league like the Serie A will make it an even better achievement.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Messi will captain FC Barcelona this season

A record 5-time winner of the award, it will be interesting to see if the arrival of new signings such as Malcolm and the attacking presence of Coutinho will have an impact on his goalscoring record.

The little magician has got lots to prove this season after a disappointing World Cup with Argentina. This year he will have the additional responsibility of captaining a Barcelona side that has lost another senior player in Andres Iniesta.

Messi might play a deeper role at times, but with the presence of creative talents such as Coutinho, Malcom and Dembele, no one can rule a man of his quality.

The Argentine genius would be itching to make it a hattrick of European golden shoes this season.