The top 10 goalscorers in Europe in 2023-24: Surprise frontrunner leads Mbappe & Haaland…

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August 25 2023: Serhou Guirassy (VfB Stuttgart) looks on during a 1. Bundesliga game, RB Leipzig versus Stuttgart, at Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, Germany.

The 2023-24 season is the first in 20 years that doesn’t feature either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo in one of Europe’s major leagues.

Those two names dominated the scoring charts across Europe for almost two entire decades, notching almost a thousand league goals combined and lifting no fewer than 10 European Golden Shoe awards.

But we’ve now arrived at a new era and some familiar names have already made a fast start to the 2023-24 campaign. We’ve taken a look at the top 10 goalscorers across Europe’s big five leagues – Ligue 1, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and the Premier League.

Note: if two players are tied on goals, we’ve ordered them by their goals-per-minute ratio.

Bryan Mbeumo, Harry Kane, Mostafa Mohamed, Odsonne Edouard, Victor Boniface and Wissam Ben Yedder all miss out on cracking this top 10 due to their inferior goals-per-minute ratio so far.

10. Dusan Vlahovic – 4

With no European distraction this season, Juventus are being talked up as genuine title challengers once again. The Old Lady have began the 2023-24 campaign with 10 points from four games, and a big part of their resurgence has been the uptick in form of their big Serbian No.9.

Vlahovic has scored four goals in four Serie A appearances and looked unstoppable with a brace in Juve’s 3-1 victory over Lazio.

9. Kevin Behrens – 4

Union Berlin continue to demonstrate that they’re no flash in the pan and started 2023-24 in sensational style by registering back-to-back 4-1 victories over Mainz and Darmstadt.

Striker Behrens scored a hat-trick on the opening weekend against Mainz and added another for good measure against Darmstadt. He’s drawn blanks in his last two appearances but his goalscoring ratio remains impressive.

8. Olivier Giroud – 4

The veteran Frenchman is having a lovely time at the San Siro surrounded by his many ex-Chelsea team-mates.

Giroud has four goals and two assists in four Serie A appearances so far this season. The Rossoneri enjoyed an excellent start to the season but suffered a serious setback in a 5-1 defeat to Inter. It’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back.

7. Evan Ferguson – 4

The Republic of Ireland international has suffered with injuries and is being managed carefully by Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton. He’s only started two league matches so far this season, but in one of those he underlined his unreal potential with an exceptional hat-trick against Newcastle United.

Special talent.

6. Jude Bellingham – 5

The England international has scored in his first four La Liga appearances for Real Madrid and his contributions have been absolutely vital in Carlo Ancelotti’s side sitting pretty at the top of the table with a 100% win rate so far.

Bellingham failed to keep that run going as Madrid came from behind to beat Real Sociedad 2-1, but he continued to be one of their standout individuals.

He only turned 20 and already he looks like a leader at the heart of Los Blancos’ midfield. Ridiculous.

READ: 9 incredible stats behind Jude Bellingham’s unbelievable start at Real Madrid

5. Lautaro Martinez – 5

The Argentinian World Cup winner began the 2023-24 campaign by scoring both of Inter’s goals in a routine 2-0 win over Monza and added a third as Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri went to Cagliari and won by the same scoreline.

He then scored twice against Fiorentina and surprisingly didn’t notch in the 5-1 Derby della Madonnina victory over AC Milan but was a menace throughout. A move to bring Romelu Lukaku back to the San Siro broke down after his flirtations with Juventus, but now it appears that Martinez is ready to be their out-and-out talisman up top.

4. Jonas Wind – 5

The forward only scored six Bundesliga goals for Wolfsburg last term but he’s already one off matching that tally in 2023-24.

Wind has kicked off the 2023-24 campaign in sensational style with all four of Wolfsburg’s goals so far, notching back-to-back braces in wins over Heidemheim and Koln before adding a fifth for good measure in a 2-1 victory over Union Berlin.

The 24-year-old Dane could be one to watch this season.

3. Erling Haaland – 7

The least surprising entry in the top 10, Haaland often hasn’t looked at his very best in 2023-24 but he remains absolutely devastating if given a sniff in the penalty area.

The Norwegian will surely claim the Premier League’s Golden Boot again, having already established a healthy lead in the top scorers chart with seven goals in five appearances for Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions.

2. Kylian Mbappe – 7

Having registered a respectable average of 24 league goals a season for PSG since arriving from Monaco back in 2017, Mbappe has surprisingly only broken the 30-goal mark once (33 back in 2018-19) and is yet to claim a European Golden Shoe.

But Haaland has serious competition if he wants to retain the accolade from last season.

Now that Messi and Neymar have left, this season is Mbappe’s first in which he’s undoubtedly the main man at the Parc des Princes. Having scored seven goals in just four appearances that total 309 minutes, we have a feeling that this could be the year his numbers go truly stratospheric.

No player on his list averages a better goal-per-minute ratio, with Mbappe boasting one every 44 minutes.

1. Serhou Guirassy – 8

A relatively lesser-known name, Guirassy signed for Stuttgart this summer after impressing there on loan from Rennes last season. He’s since taken his game to another level as surprise package Stuttgart have punched well above their weight to sit fourth in the Bundesliga table.

The 27-year-old Guinea international averaged a goal every other game in the German top flight last term and he’s bettering that ratio in 2023-24 so far with eight goals in just four games, notching in every outing so far.

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Bundesliga Harry Kane Jude Bellingham Kylian Mbappe La Liga Ligue 1 Premier League Serie A