The 10 Premier League players with the most goals after turning 30: Vardy, Lampard…
Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham stars are among the 10 Premier League players with the most goals after turning 30.
While most footballers start to wind down by the time they reach 30, others manage to become even more prolific in their later years.
We’ve taken a closer look at the Premier League record books and have found the 10 players with the most goals after turning 30.
10. Paolo Di Canio – 54 goals
By the time Di Canio had joined West Ham in 1999, the Italian forward had already turned 30, but he still had plenty of goals left in him.
Impressively, 82% of the Premier League goals that Di Canio scored throughout his career came after he turned 30.
With 54 strikes to his name in his later years, he scored more Premier League goals in his thirties than the likes of Andy Cole, Jermain Defoe and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
9. Les Ferdinand – 57 goals
Ferdinand celebrated his 30th birthday halfway through the 1996–97 campaign which ended up being his final season at Newcastle.
The England international then went on to enjoy the next five and a half years at Tottenham before he had short spells with the likes of West Ham, Leicester and Bolton.
8. Didier Drogba – 57 goals
Like Ferdinand, Drogba also managed 57 goals after turning 30. However, he managed to reach that tally in 40 fewer appearances than it took Ferdinand.
Impressively, 55% of his Premier League goals came after he turned 30 in March 2008. It’s also worth noting that he enjoyed his best-ever scoring season in 2009–10 where he scored 29 league goals, aged 31.
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7. Peter Beardsley – 58 goals
Having played well into his late thirties, it probably won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that Beardsley makes the cut for this list.
The former Liverpool and Everton star was already 30 by the time the Premier League was rebranded in 1992 and he continued to score goals until he retired in 1999.
In total, he made 185 Premier League appearances and averaged 0.31 goals per game during that time.
6. Gianfranco Zola – 59 goals
Having joined Chelsea a few months after turning 30, all of Zola’s Premier League goals came during his thirties.
Along with scoring 59 goals, Zola also produced 42 assists and averaged 0.44 goal contributions per game during his spell at Stamford Bridge.
5. Teddy Sheringham – 77 goals
Few footballers can hold a candle to Sheringham’s longevity as the former Manchester United and Tottenham star was still scoring goals in his forties.
Of his 146 Premier League goals, 77 of them came after his 30th birthday in April 1996.
He was already 31 when he signed for United in 1997 and he went on to enjoy some great years at Old Trafford, winning seven trophies in just four years.
4. Frank Lampard – 82 goals
Lampard scored around 46% of his Premier League goals after turning 30, as the Chelsea legend played at the top level until he was 37.
He enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his career in 2009–10 aged 31 and he scored an average of 0.38 goals per game in his thirties. Considering he wasn’t an out-and-out striker like the majority of others on this list, that’s some going.
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3. Alan Shearer – 84 goals
While Shearer might hold the record for the most Premier League goals of all time, the same can’t quite be said when it comes to this list.
In total, the Newcastle legend scored 32% of his league goals after turning 30. He also scored over 20 goals in two seasons after turning 30 – managing that feat in 2001–02 and 2003–04.
We can’t see his record of 260 goals being broken any time soon, but there are a couple of players ahead of him in this list.
2. Ian Wright – 93 goals
Considering Wright only began his professional career a few months before turning 22, it makes sense that he peaked during his later years.
He celebrated his 30th birthday a couple of years after joining Arsenal and he continued to deliver the goods for the Gunners well into his thirties.
Overall, Wright scored at a rate of 0.55 goals per game in his thirties which is a better ratio than anyone else on this list.
1. Jamie Vardy – 108 goals
Still going strong for Leicester City today aged 37, Vardy is the only player in Premier League history to have scored over 100 goals after turning 30.
In 2024-25, he’s already found the back of the net on six occasions and is currently averaging a goal every 190 minutes for the Foxes.
He was already 27 years old by the time he made his Premier League debut and he’s since gone on to score over 140 goals in the top flight.
Considering he’s still going strong today, we wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls further ahead of the rest of this list by the time he does retire.