Who wins the World Cup 2018 Golden Boot?

Mr.Nice Guy

Gary Lineker, Davor Suker, Miroslav Klose...just some of the names that have taken home the Golden Boot from previous World Cups.

James Rodriguez was the surprise winner of the award at the last tournament. Which player do you reckon takes the accolade this time? Any outside bets you're considering?

Here are the contenders to finish top goalscorer according to Paddy Power:

Neymar 9/1
Lionel Messi 9/1
Antoine Griezmann 10/1
Harry Kane 14/1
Gabriel Jesus 14/1
Timo Werner 14/1
Romelu Lukaku 16/1
Cristiano Ronaldo 16/1
Edinson Cavani 20/1
Luis Suarez 22/1
Robert Lewandowski 25/1
Diego Costa 25/1
Thomas Muller 25/1
Kylian Mbappe 25/1
Eden Hazard 33/1
Gonzalo Higuain 33/1
Sergio Aguero 33/1
Isco 33/1
Radamel Falcao 40/1
James Rodriguez 40/1
Marco Reus 40/1
Olivier Giroud 45/1
Dries Mertens 50/1
David Silva 50/1
Philippe Coutinho 50/1
Mohamed Salah 50/1
Roberto Firmino 66/1
Rodrigo Moreno 66/1
Iago Aspas 66/1
Christian Eriksen 80/1
Arkadiusz Milik 80/1
Fyodor Smolov 80/1
Andre Silva 80/1
Mario Mandzukic 80/1
Paulo Dybala 80/1
Sadio Mane 80/1
Ousmane Dembele 80/1
Carlos Bacca 100/1
Dele Alli 100/1
Hirving Lozano 100/1
Paulinho 100/1
Aleksandr Mitrovic 100/1
Jamie Vardy 100/1
Angel Di Maria 100/1
Mario Gomez 100/1
Michy Batshuayi 100/1
Raheem Sterling 100/1
Javier Hernandez 100/1
Marcus Rashford 100/1
Marco Asensio 100/1
Jose Paulo Guerrero 100/1
Paul Pogba 100/1
Goncalo Guedes 100/1
Douglas Costa 125/1
Ezequiel Lavezzi 125/1
Aleksandr Bukharov 125/1
Kevin De Bruyne 125/1
Leon Goretzka 125/1
Mesut Ozil 125/1
Jesse Lingard 125/1
Nabil Fekir 125/1
Cristhian Stuani 125/1
Ivan Perisic 125/1
Luka Modric 125/1
Son Heungmin 125/1
Yannick Carrasco 200/1
Edwin Cardona 200/1
Keisuke Honda 200/1
Tim Cahill 200/1
Gylfi Sigurdsson 200/1
Jefferson Farfan 250/1

Leaning towards Neymar at the minute. Sterling's odds seem pretty generous considering he scored 18 goals in the league and England have a decent group.

~Rebel~

Timo Werner (Ger) 14/1

Assuming he starts, going for Gabi Jesus. Terrific and very efficient finisher, and could see him finding a bit of space with Neymar being doubled up on.

Iused2likebusts

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Leaning towards Neymar at the minute. Sterling's odds seem pretty generous considering he scored 18 goals in the league and England have a decent group.

Sterlings finishing isnt great he won't be getting the amount of chances he gets at city that he needs to score. I haven't seen much of england but I'd imagine he also won't be getting the type of chance he usually scores at city. Him arriving and finishing of a pull back from a few yards out.

AndyBoBandy

Gonzalo Higuain (Arg) 33/1

Totally out of the blue but went for Eden Hazard.

If Belgium click they could be very good, and someone would have to be the main man!, and he might see the World Cup as a shop window for himself so could really be up for it.

RobbingBandit

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

Lukaku, he had a good lot of goals in qualifying if Belgium win their group he will be in the mix with the goals

super_furry

Mo Salah (Egy) 50/1

If I'm putting actual money on it, Philippe Coutinho at 50/1 looks like great value.

Unearthly

Romelu Lukaku (Bel) 16/1

If Werner is 1st choice then he has a chance. Germany usually get to semi finals at worse and score plenty

GavRedKing

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

I voted for Neymar but I'm going put 10 quid on Giroud if the 45/1 odds are correct.

Liam O

I presume Mertens will play on the right for Belgium? He looks very good value.

As usual you have to look at the Uruguayans though in such a weak group and someone like Cavani, presuming Suarez takes a deeper role, could make hay. Though with Suarez's previous tournament record it would make me think I was going for value over who is probably more likely to do it.

Johner

Lukaku, I think Belgium will score high in the group stages and I think they'll get to the semi's.

8-10

Romelu Lukaku (Bel) 16/1

Looking at the groups Panama are probably the worst team. Lukaku and Kane against them could help either win it.

But I'm going to go with Werner because Germany

dfx-

Harry Kane (Eng) 14/1

Griezmann, hopefully with a new celebration...

pjohnson

I'd be wary of Batshuayi starting against Panama and resting Lukaku.

Skylinehead

World Cup Muller is always worth a shout. Especially at 25s.

RayCon

Philippe Coutinho (Bra) 50/1

Providing France don't implode I can see them having a good WC .... Olivier Giroud (Fra) 45/1 seems decent value. Worth a €5

GavRedKing

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

Ya, the golden boot winner usually scores 6 goals.

2014 - 6
2010 - 5
2006 - 5
2002 - 8
1998 right through until 1978 - 6

MagicIRL

Romelu Lukaku (Bel) 16/1

Timo Werner as the German machine grinds through opposition defences yet again.

Poor South Korea.

jacool

Just to let you know that if there is a tie, as in 2010, the GB is awarded to the player, in the tie, with most assists.
This award therefore has a tie-breaker, unlike the top scorer competition in most bookmakers.

callaway92

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

Predicted goals for the tournie below

Agent Coulson

Robert Lewandowski (Pol) 25/1

Suarez could run up a good number against Saudi Arabia, Russia & Egypt.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

Think Lukaku, Kane and Suarez are good shouts to score well in the group stages and little chance of any being rested. Of those I think Lukaku will go furthest so gonna stick a few quid on him and Muller

marklazarcovic

Romelu Lukaku (Bel) 16/1

Timo Werner,coz Germany .

The Backwards Man

Moussa Konate with eight goals, mostly off the bench, as the Lions of Teranga sweep England and Germany aside on the way to an historic last four.

spock.

Smolov

mdwexford

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

Big Rom for me, thought he would be shorter.

Fancy Belgium to have a breakthrough tournament.

eagle eye

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

I think Neymar and it won't even be close. Coming in here hungry after an injury and a great team around him.

charolais0153

Edinson Cavani (Uru) 20/1

I think ronaldo tbh. Get to quarters if not semis.

BullBlackNova

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

I went Lukaku. I reckon he could get 4 or 5 by the end of the group if the Belgians are on form. Add one more in the knockouts and he has a good chance.

Think there are better teams than Belgium and better players than Lukaku but just not sure anyone is going to score huge amounts of goals.

A Brazilian player would be my next best bet, either Neymar or Jesus. Think they could well share the goals around though rather than having one lead goal scorer. Same for Germany and France, wealth of attacking talent there who knows where the goal is.

Uruguay could be a decent shout too but I wouldn't be confident in it.

Kenjataimu

Gabriel Jesus (Bra) 14/1

I'm going for a long shot.

Harry Kane to get a hat trick in a group game and finish joint top scorer with 5.
England to get to the semis.

8-10

Romelu Lukaku (Bel) 16/1

My long shot bet is Alexandr Mitrovic to be top scorer @ 125/1 e/w.

Scored 5 in the last 3 friendlies and got 6 in qualifying in our group. There's worse value out there

charolais0153

Edinson Cavani (Uru) 20/1

Kenjataimu wrote: »

I'm going for a long shot.

Harry Kane to get a hat trick in a group game and finish joint top scorer with 5.
England to get to the semis.

Harry Kane to score a hattrick direct from corners maybe :pac:

SharpshooterTom

Wow only 3 votes for the European golden boot winner and greatest player in the world.

Could be a lot of egg on peoples faces in a few weeks time.

gimli2112

Robert Lewandowski (Pol) 25/1

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Wow only 3 votes for the European golden boot winner and greatest player in the world.

Could be a lot of egg on peoples faces in a few weeks time.

It's a bit of a crap shoot to be honest. Went for Suarez before I knew he was in an easy group, how good Uruguay are and my natural bias. He could go crazy in that group. He could also take a bite out of someone or punch the ball off the goal line in the first match.

GavRedKing

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Wow only 3 votes for the European golden boot winner and greatest player in the world.

Could be a lot of egg on peoples faces in a few weeks time.

I think compared to others, Argentina have a tricky group.

I wouldnt rule him out running riot against a team either but Argentina have been dire for awhile now and their team doesnt fill me with confidence at all.

Shanotheslayer

GavRedKing wrote: »

I think compared to others, Argentina have a tricky group.

I wouldnt rule him out running riot against a team either but Argentina have been dire for awhile now and their team doesnt fill me with confidence at all.

Messi won the European Golden Boot? :pac: think the op was referring to Ronaldo.

GavRedKing

Lionel Messi (Arg) 9/1

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Messi won the European Golden Boot? :pac: think the op was referring to Ronaldo.

Well, hes won the last two.

764dak

Griezmann couldn't even score against the USA's reserve squad.

A simplistic view would be to assume most goals will be scored in the group stage.

Uruguay and Belgium are playing some of the lowest ranked teams.

I reckon Lukaku has a great chance in a free scoring team and they play the two weakest teams in their first two games. He’s also currently in form.

Very tight call between Suarez and Cavani thereafter.

Mr.Nice Guy

Luis Suarez (Uru) 22/1

I ended up placing a bet on Neymar and have gone with Cavani as an outside shot.

Trigger

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

I have bets on both Lukaku and Kane, my only worry is Lukaku anyways being rested against Panama, where he could rack up a few goals.

DJIMI TRARORE

Diego Costa (Esp) 25/1

Went with big Lewa myself,scoring in pre-finals friendlies and not in the hardest of groups

astradave

astradave wrote: »

I have bets on both Lukaku and Kane, my only worry is Lukaku anyways being rested against Panama, where he could rack up a few goals.

Surely not a chance of this happening.

Start first two games and get to six points before they play England.

charolais0153

Edinson Cavani (Uru) 20/1

If you had one chance to win a world cup,id let steling tale it ahead of cavani or higuain. Too inefficient in tight games

LiamoSail

Kane would be a good bet. He's a Spurs man, finishing top scorer is far more important than competing at the business end of tournaments. The golden boot is his Jules Rimet . A rake of goals against Tunisia and home on the next flight after Julen Lopetegui

charolais0153

Edinson Cavani (Uru) 20/1

charolais0153 wrote: »

I think ronaldo tbh. Get to quarters if not semis.

If only i put money where my mouth was. What a player

Some position he is in with 3 goals and the two easier teams in the group to come.

Trigger

Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) 16/1

TGM is somewhere crying into his porridge

Shanotheslayer

astradave wrote: »

TGM is somewhere crying into his porridge

In fairness to TGM he always said he was a great finisher and two out of 3 of those goals were that

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Some position he is in with 3 goals and the two easier teams in the group to come.

2 for Costa who also has 2 easier games ahead.

The group predicted to have the most goals was group G.

First round of games have finished with Kane and Lukaku having scored 2 each.

Lukaku hand the easier game so Kane now favourite to rack up a few against Panama and finish group stages as top scorer.

Ronaldo gonna break the hearts of the punters.

Can’t imagine many would have fancied him.

Didn’t they win the euros by drawing a shed load of games and not scoring many goals ?

I didn’t even consider him for golden boot.