“Strikers are egotists, selfish. We have to be”– Romario.
While that statement may sound harsh, there is some truth to it. For a striker to be successful, they have to score goals. And lots of them.
However, there is obviously more to it than that. To quote Thierry Henry, “People always see the goals, and for me, strikers are not only about scoring goals.”
With that being said, we’ll be taking a look at the top 25 strikers to have graced the footballing world so far, in the 21st Century.
To make this selection as fair as possible, the top 5 five strikers from each of the top five European leagues will form the basis of this list.
Let’s get going, shall we.
Table of Contents
Top 5 Bundesliga strikers in the 21st Century
5. Edin Džeko
Embed from Getty ImagesOne of the best target men in recent history.
Džeko is probably best known for his time with Roma and Manchester City. So many may not remember that he first grew to prominence while playing for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
In between the dominance of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, Wolfsburg managed to win the Bundesliga in 2009, with Džeko playing a starring role.
In that same season, he scored 26 goals in 32 games and was named the Bundesliga players player of the year. Overall, Džeko scored 66 goals in 111 games for Wolfsburg.
While playing in Germany, and throughout his career, Edin Džeko has combined his immense physical presence and technical ability to become a truly prolific striker.
4. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Embed from Getty ImagesProbably the fastest elite striker I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. Aubameyang was electric to watch in the Bundesliga.
Many would be shy to admit that they simply labelled him as a speed merchant at the beginning of his career. However, throughout his career he has continued to prove the doubters wrong
His best goal scoring season came in the 2016/2017 season where he scored 31 goals in 32 matches and managed to beat Robert Lewandowski to the Bundesliga top scorer award, by a single goal.
Overall, he scored 98 goals in 144 league games for Borussia Dortmund.
3. Thomas Müller
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s quite difficult to pinpoint exactly what Müller’s best playing position is. During his career he has taken up just about every attacking position available to great success.
He is mainly deployed as an attacking midfielder nowadays, but he often plays as a second striker or out and out striker for both Germany and Bayern Munich.
When watching him play for the first time, many may be confused as to what the fuss is all about. He does not possess immense dribbling ability or the ability to take on defenders one on one.
However, his off the ball movement, high energy and tactical intelligence allows him to get the better or opponents often. He is described as a “raumdeuter”. This directly translates to “space interpreter”.
So far, Müller has scored 122 Bundesliga goals and made 150 assists in 358 games.
2. Mario Gómez
Embed from Getty ImagesGómez was the kind of player that always knew how to be at the right place at the right time.
His positional awareness, strength, movement in and around the box and his wide finishing range earned him several awards over his career.
Before joining Bayern Munich in, he had already won the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart. After transferring to Bavaria, more of the same occurred.
All in all, Gómez scored 170 goals in 328 games and won 3 Bundesliga titles as well as a champions league title.
1. Robert Lewandowski
Embed from Getty ImagesIn my opinion, the very best traditional number 9 over the past 2 decades or so.
Robert Lewandowski is a player that really does not need a long description for why is so great. His list of accomplishments speaks for itself.
The best season of Lewandowski’s career, in terms of numbers, came in the 2019/2020 season. In this season, he scored 34 league goals in 31 matches, and 15 goals in 10 Champions League matches.
The best returBayern Munich also won a famous treble in 2020.
Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic in 2020, Lewandowski was not awarded the ballon d’or that he so clearly deserved for this magnificent season.
Despite his incredible form in the 2020 season, probably the most memorable moment of his career (from a fan’s perspective, at least) came in 2015, when he was substituted into a league match against Wolfsburg and scored 5 goals in 9 minutes.
The look on Pep Guardiola’s face says it all.
Top 5 Ligue 1 strikers in the 21st Century
5. Kylian Mbappe
Embed from Getty ImagesKylian Mbappe has only gone from strength to strength since the days when he played for Monaco.
Despite still being in his early 20s, Mbappe has already won a world cup, and several league titles. In addition to this, he is already considered to be one of the best players in the world.
Not only is he lighting fast, but he has quick feet and an astute understanding of the game.
With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo likely set to retire in the coming years, it’s hard to imagine that Mbappe won’t replace them at the top sooner rather than later.
As of 2020, Mbappe has already scored 87 goals in only 123 Ligue 1 games.
4. Alexandre Lacazette
Embed from Getty ImagesBefore moving to Arsenal, Lacazette had been putting in some serios performance for Lyon in Ligue 1.
So much so that thousands of football fans were wondering why on earth it took so long for a big European team to make a serious bid for him.
Lacazette was and still is a highly industrious , technical player that is deceptively strong for his size. Staniding at 5 ft 9 inches, he would regularly bully centre backs and capitalize on their mistakes.
While in France, Lacazette scored 100 goals in 203 League games.
3. Pauleta
Embed from Getty ImagesAn often-forgotten legend in recent Ligue 1 football history.
Due to the fact that Lyon dominated French football in the early to late 2000s, he likely did not get the recognition he deserved.
Nonetheless, Pauleta played for Bordeaux and PSG during his Ligue 1 career and put up some serious numbers for both teams.
He often played as a lone striker and combined agility, strength and superb ball control to become one of the most prolific goal scorers in French football.
All in all, he scored 141 goals in 266 games in Ligue 1.
2. Edinson Cavani
Embed from Getty ImagesOne of the best examples of an out and out striker in the past decade or so.
Before joining PSG, Cavani was already in fire hot form for Napoli, having scored 78 goals in 104 league games in Italy.
Once he joined PSG, business went on as usual. He is currently the top goal scorer in PSG history, with 138 goals in 200 matches. To add to that, he racked up 6 Ligue 1 titles, among several other award while playing in France.
Although Cavani is labelled as a great finisher, perhaps his best quality is his movement off the ball. He is an incredibly intelligent player and often loses his marker to create space to shoot or drags defenders out of position to make space for his team mates to run into.
1. Zlatan Ibrahimović
Embed from Getty Images“There’s only one Zlatan”- Zlatan Ibrahimović
Ibra is one of the most iconic footballers of all time and certainly one of the greatest footballers in the past few decades.
Never in my life have I seen a football player be so cocky and then immediately back his words up with incredible performances.
Apart from being incredibly evergreen, Ibra is best known for his athleticism and flexibility (despite being 6 ft 5) and his deadly ball striking ability.
Seriously, how many players can hit a ball this hard?
Six years ago today, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four goals for PSG against Anderlecht 🔥
— Goal (@goal) October 23, 2019
This strike was so good that it got a round of applause from the home fans 🚀👏pic.twitter.com/uWJTDR6Gtd
During his time in Ligue 1, Ibrahimović scored 113 goals in 122 games and won 4 Ligue 1 titles.
Top 5 Serie A strikers in the 21st Century
Honourable mention: Adriano
Embed from Getty Images“He could shoot from every angle, nobody could tackle him, nobody could take the ball, he was a pure animal.”- Zlatan Ibrahimović
When talking about the great Serie A strikers of the 21st century, we simply have to mention L’Imperatore (the Emperor).
He was a beast in his day. He would bully defenders both with his physicality and with his dribbling ability.
His contributions to Inter Milan were unreal at his peak. Unfortunately, due to terrible personal circumstances, such as the passing of his father, Adriano’s peak only lasted for two years.
However, in those two years (between 2004 and 2006), he scored 29 goals in 60 Serie A matches, won a Serie A title and placed 5th and 6th in the Ballon D’or in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
His career was cut short due to personal tragedies, but we will always remember the Emperor.
5. Ciro Immobile
Embed from Getty ImagesCiro Immobile has certainly been a surprise package for several football fans over the past couple of years.
Initially, Immobile was tipped to be the next big thing when he was awarded the Serie A top scorer award in 2014, with Torino. That season’s performance earned him a well-deserved move up to Borussia Dortmund.
Unfortunately, after spending an unsuccessful period at Dortmund, as well as several lacklustre loan spells, many were ready to write off Immobile as a waste of potential.
However, he surprised everyone after moving to Lazio in 2016 and subsequently topping all the goalscoring charts available.
To put this into perspective, his best scoring season while playing for Borussia Dortmund was 3 goals in 24 games in 2015. His best season at Lazio (and of his career) was 36 goals in 37 games in 2020.
His upturn in form saw him winning the European Golden Shoe in 2020, and the Coppa Italia in 2019.
4. Mauro Icardi
Embed from Getty ImagesSay what you want about Mauro Icardi, but there is no denying that he was a force to be reckoned with during his time at Inter Milan.
The former Inter Milan captain is one of the best poachers to step foot in Serie A.
Although he does possess good dribbling skill, he rarely uses it and has specialised in scoring from as few touches as possible. In addition to that, he is known for his reaction time and positional awareness.
As a result of these traits, he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. This is evidenced by the fact that he scored 122 Serie A goals in 222 games.
3. Gonzalo Higuaín
Embed from Getty ImagesAlthough many loves to hate him, Gonzalo Higuaín was one of the most consistent goal scorers in Serie A during his prime.
After being deemed surplus to requirement at Real Madrid, he moved to Napoli and immediately began to impress.
During the 3 years that he spent in Naples, Higuaín was voted into the Serie A team of the year twice. He also broke the record for most goals scored in a single Serie A season in history with 36 goals in 20.
This record has since been broken by Ciro Immobile in 2020.
After moving to Juventus, his incredible goal scoring form and picked up another team of the season award as well as his first Serie A title.
Higuaín in his prime was known for his brute physicality and ability to score from all angles. In addition, he had incredible jumping and heading ability.
Throughout his Serie A career, he managed to score 119 goals in 209 league matches.
2. Antonio Di Natale
Embed from Getty ImagesFor lack of a better euphemism, this man aged like fine wine.
Antonio Di Natale is probably one of the only players in history that hit his prime at the age of 33.
In the years prior to hitting the peak of his goalscoring form, Di Natale had an uninspiring career. Empoli, the team where he developed and began his professional career, were regularly in and out of Serie A and were greatly underperforming.
When Empoli were relegated to Serie B in 2004, Di Natale transferred to Udinese. Again, he didn’t really impress anyone, as he only managed to score 7 goals in 33 matches in his debut season.
However, in 2010, something must have come over him as he went on to score 29 goals in 35 matches. This trend would continue over the next few years.
After turning 33 years old, Di Natale scored 136 goals in 228 games. In contrast, prior to turning 33, he scored 73 goals in 217 games.
His outstanding goal scoring performances were enough to earn him two Serie A top scorer awards in 2010 and 2011.
1. Andriy Shevchenko
Embed from Getty ImagesOf course, the winner of the 2004 Ballon D’or had to appear on this list.
Shevchenko’s time in Milan was highlighted with a Champions League victory, as well as a Serie A title victory.
During his time at the San Siro, Shevchenko scored 127 goals in 208 League matches. A very impressive return.
For a larger player, Shevchenko was deceptively quick. In addition to that, he was hardworking, physical and tenacious. All of these characteristics combined to form one deadly striker.
Perhaps the best example of Shevchenko at his peak is this incredible effort.
Andriy Shevchenko was a killer 😎pic.twitter.com/kQEbXe5Fl5
— Goal (@goal) September 23, 2020
Top 5 La Liga strikers in the 21st Century
Honorable mention: Diego Forlan
Embed from Getty ImagesDiego Forlan is one of the most underrated strikers in the past few decades.
Although, it’s not hard to see why that is the case. Prior to playing in La Liga, Forlan had a rather unsuccessful stint in England between 2002 and 2004, where he played for Manchester United.
During his time in Manchester, he only scored 10 goals in 63 games. And, as you can imagine, as a Manchester United striker in that time period, that simply was not good enough.
He eventually transferred to Villareal, and his fortunes changed almost immediately. He went on to win the European Golden boot in his first season for them, in 2005.
After earning a transfer to Atletico Madrid, he would repeat this feat by scoring an incredible 32 goals in 33 matches in the 2008/2009 La Liga season.
At the peak of his playing career, Forlan was known for his elite finishing ability from all angles and distances, as well as his great positional awareness.
All in all, he scored 128 goals in 240 appearances in La Liga.
5. Ronaldo Nezario
Embed from Getty ImagesBefore, everyone raises their pitch forks regarding Ronaldo’s position on this list, it’s important to note that the highs of Ronaldo’s career came at Barcelona (before the 21st century) and at Inter Milan.
His time in Real Madrid is what was evaluated in this list.
Nonetheless, despite suffering many setbacks prior to joining Madrid, Ronaldo was exceptional while playing for them. And considering the fact that he had already suffered 2 long term injuries prior to joining Madrid, that’s really saying something.
His pace and overall athleticism had understandably taken a bit of hit by this point in his career. However, one trait of his that was as sharp as ever was his finishing ability.
So much so that Ronaldo managed to score 83 goals in 127 games for Madrid and also picked up a La Liga title in 2003.
4. David Villa
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Spanish national team all-time top scorer.
David Villa is one of the most prolific and loved players to have played in La Liga. He played for several teams during his time in La Liga. However, the club he is likely most recognised for representing is Barcelona.
This is due to the fact that while playing at the Camp Nou, he picked up 2 La Liga titles and one Champions League title.
Despite this, he displayed his best goal scoring form while playing for Valencia. It was here that he scored an impressive 108 goals in 166 matches. A much larger return than the 33 in 77 that he scored for Barca.
All in all, Villa managed to score 186 goals in 352 matches in La Liga, throughout his career
He was not a particularly physical player, but he more than made up for it with his speed, passing and positional awareness.
These traits, in combination with his ability to score with both feet, made him a very deadly finisher in his prime.
3. Karim Benzema
Embed from Getty ImagesAt this point, Karim Benzema is nothing other than a certified Real Madrid Legend.
Upon arriving in Madrid in 2009, Benzema seemingly always had to play second fiddle to someone when it came to goal scoring.
This is understandable when you have Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain fighting for goal scoring opportunities.
Despite this, Benzema has carved an incredibly successful career over the past couple of years and has picked up 3 La Liga trophies and 4 Champions League trophies. In addition, he has racked up 173 goals in 357 games
Over the years, Benzema has been recognised for his strength, agility, tactical awareness and striking ability.
But what’s impressed most people is his versatility and selflessness. After all, it takes a special player to successfully play as a forward in a team that includes Cristiano Ronaldo.
To get the most out of Ronaldo, he was deployed as a striker, winger, inside forward and an attacking midfielder at various points in his Madrid career.
However, since Ronaldo’s departure in 2018, he has taken up the mantel as the main Real Madrid goal scorer.
2. Samuel Eto’o
Embed from Getty ImagesProbably the greatest African player of all time, in my opinion.
Samuel Eto’o was another kind of beast while playing in La Liga, and more specifically for Barcelona.
Hr actually started off his career in Spain as a Real Madrid youth player. However, due to competition for starting places, he was transferred to Mallorca. And as a result of several strong performances, he earned a big transfer to Barcelona in 2005.
In his prime, Eto’o was undoubtedly one of the best attackers on the planet. He was fast, energetic, composed and highly technical.
During his time in La Liga, he won several team and individual awards, including 3 La Liga titles and 2 Champions league titles.
His best season for Barcelona, in terms of goal scoring came in the 2008/09 season where he scored 30 goals in 37 games.
Overal, he scored 162 league goals in 277 games while playing in Spain.
1. Luis Suarez
Embed from Getty ImagesOne of the only players that realistically could have won several Ballon d’ors if Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi did not play football.
Despite only spending six seasons in Spain and transferring at 27 years of age, he is the 3rd highest goal scorer in Barcelona history and the 20th highest goal scorer in La Liga history.
Overall, he scored 147 La Liga goals in 191 games for Barcelona.
His best season in terms of number came in the 2015/2016 season where he scored 40 goals and made 18 assists.
To put this into perspective, Messi and Ronaldo scored 35 and 26 goals and made 16 and 11 assists, respectively in that same year.
That’s right, Suarez outscored and out assisted both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo while they were both still in their prime.
This guy could do everything you could ever ask for in a striker. Although his main skills were his acceleration, reaction time, ball striking technique and ball control.
An absolutely unreal player and one of the most complete number 9s in the history of the game.
One Suarez memory in particular that I will never forget is his stunning performance against PSG in the 2014/15 Champions League quarter finale.
When Luis Suarez destroyed PSG 😍pic.twitter.com/YYVulQEZ3e
— Goal (@goal) March 20, 2020
Although, I think David Luiz would like to forget it…
Top 5 English Premier League strikers in the 21st century
Honorable Mention: Harry Kane
Embed from Getty ImagesIt really shouldn’t be surprising that Harry Kane is on this list, despite the fact that he still has a long career ahead of him.
At the time of writing this article, Kane has scored 150 Premier League goals in 215 appearance and has been included in the PFA Team of the year 4 times. A truly ridiculous return.
Despite his size, he is an extremely technical player with quick feet and great passing ability. Surprisingly, he has yet to win any major trophy whatsoever.
However, with his current form and trajectory, a smart man would put his money on that changing in the coming years.
5. Ruud van Nistelrooy
Embed from Getty ImagesRuud van Nistelrooy was one of the most prolific goal scorers to grace European football this century.
A testament to his goal scoring prowess is the fact that he received the golden boot in 3 separate leagues (English Premier League, La Liga and Eredivisie).
To add to that, he was also named the Champions League top goal scorer on three separate occasions. Surprisingly, he never actually managed to win the competition.
Van Nistelrooy was highly renowned for his positional awareness, ball striking ability and intelligence.
He seemed to always know when to make runs and how to beat the offsides traps. Further to that, his finishing technique made it near impossible for goalkeepers to keep him off the score sheet.
His best goalscoring form in terms of number came while playing for Manchester United, where he scored 95 goals in 150 appearances.
While playing in England, he managed to win one Premier League medal and the FA cup.
4. Didier Drogba
Embed from Getty ImagesOne of the greatest strikers in Chelsea and Premier League history, Didier Drogba is a global icon. And for good reason too.
The Ivorian spent 9 years with Chelsea and was a key figure during the most successful period in the club’s history, scoring 104 Premier League Goals in 226 games. In this period, he picked up 4 Premier League medals and a Champions league medal.
He was renowned for his physicality, hold up play and all-round finishing.
However, perhaps his most notable trait was his composure in high pressure situations. Many regards him as the ultimate “clutch” due to the fact that he has scored 10 goals in the 10 finals that he has participated in.
Without a doubt, the most clutch goal he scored was the extra time equalizer in the 2012 Champions League Final against Bayern Munich.
Many regard this goal as the most important goal in the Chelsea’s entire history.
3. Wayne Rooney
Embed from Getty ImagesHaving Wazza here was inevitable, seeing as he is the highest goal scorer in Manchester United history with 253 goals in all competitions. He is also the 2nd highest goal scorer in the Premier League, with 208 goals.
The real reason that Rooney was not placed higher on this list is that throughout his 17-year Premier League career, despite his goal scoring ability, he only really played as a striker, a handful of times.
Due to his selfless playstyle, tireless running and passing ability, Rooney was often deployed as either a winger, inside forward or Attacking midfielder for the majority of his career.
Nonetheless, his two standout seasons at striker were the 2009/2010 and the 2011/2012 seasons, where he scored 26 goals and 27 goals respectively.
In addition to that, he picked up 5 Premier League Medals, 1 Champions League Medal, among several other accolades.
2. Sergio Agüero
Embed from Getty Images“Agüeroooo”- Martin Tyler
Sergio Agüero is without a doubt the greatest striker in Manchester City’s history.
Agüero arrived in Manchester, from Atletico Madrid in 2011 and his impact at the club was immediate.
In his first season, he helped City to their first ever Premier League title, scoring 23 goals in the process. He’s only gone from strength to strength following his debut season in England.
While in Manchester, he has picked up 4 Premier League trophies and currently sits at number 4 on the all time Premier League goal scorers list with 180 goals.
Agüero has been revered by many for his speed, ball control, technical skills, close control and composure in the opposition’s penalty area.
However, despite being one of the most prolific finishers in the history of world football, he has been subjected to long term injuries on several occasions. He has missed a whopping 92 games due to injury while playing in England.
Crazy to imagine what could have happened had he managed to stay injury free.
1. Thierry Henry
Embed from Getty ImagesThe greatest striker in the Premier League in the 21st century is none other than Thierry Henry.
The Frenchman was an absolute joy to watch in his prime and is the only player to win 4 Premier League Golden Boots.
In addition to that, he helped Arsenal to 2 Premier League trophies and 2 FA Cups while playing in London.
He really was a different kind of beast. Pace, power, jumping, dribbling, scoring, assisting, he really did it all.
Perhaps the best example of Henry in his prime came in the 2002/03 season of the Premier League.
In this season, Henry scored 24 goals and made 20 assists this season and became the only player in history to score 20 goals and assist 20 goals in a single season in Europe’s top five leagues.
The only other player that has done this is Lionel Messi in the 2019/20 La Liga season- he scored 25 goals and made 21 assists.
All in all, Henry scored 176 Premier League goals and made 82 assists in 258 games for Arsenal. A truly remarkable playmaking number 9.
One of Henry’s standout goals was this incredible effort against Manchester United in 2000s. As you can imagine, absolutely nobody expected this.
Thierry Henry vs Man Utd pic.twitter.com/qbfBnTVwZ0
— 🌊™️ (@RealistGlizzy) March 29, 2020
Safe to say that Henry deserves the statue that was built in his honour outside of the Emirates.
Summary
In summary, the top 25 strikers of the 21 century are as follows:
Bundesliga
- Edin Džeko
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
- Thomas Müller
- Mario Gomez
- Robert Lewandowski
Ligue 1
- Kylian Mbappe
- Alexandre Lacazette
- Pauleta
- Edinson Cavani
- Zlatan Ibrahimović
Serie A
- Honourable Mention: Adriano
- Ciro Immobile
- Mauro Icardi
- Gonzalo Higuain
- Antonio Di Natale
- Andriy Shevchenko
La Liga
- Honourable Mention: Diego Forlan
- Ronaldo Nezario
- David Villa
- Karim Benzema
- Samuel Eto’o
- Luis Suarez
English Premier League
- Honourable Mention: Harry Kane
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
- Didier Drogba
- Wayne Rooney
- Sergio Aguero
- Thierry Henry
If you’re interested in a detailed breakdown of the all the different types of strikers, be sure to take a look at this article.
Finally, for more top 25 style articles on football positions, be sure to take a look at the following articles: