Who is the best Premier League striker ever?

SlickRic

Obvious conversation is obvious following the Aguero announcement.

Shearer and Henry are clear IMO. But does he have a case for 3rd?

Could Kane get to the top?
Does Suarez's obvious talent and individual production during his time get him in there?
Drogba's big game presence?
Rooney's talent and longevity?
Van Nistelrooy's killer instinct?

For me:

Henry
Shearer
Aguero

Thoughts?

dfx-

Van Nistelrooy, though I don't think he's well suited to today's game. I'd have him ahead of Henry too, Shearer is a harder sell...

If there was a ball loose in the box, that's where RvN was and that's what you need and a lot of teams have sacrificed.

Liam O

Why Cantona doesn't get mentioned in these I'll never know.

But sure, I'll go for the one who was the best player out of all them and won the league every full season he played in it.

Fitz*

Aguero & Henry for me.

I've always rated Aguero higher than Shearer myself. I think he played in a tougher, more technical era and scored an almighty high number of goals, consistently, and backed it up with plenty assists too. He played off the main striker at times too.

Harry Palmr

Whats the definition - games/goals surely is the one that matters. Though obviously you can change that to BIG games/BIG goals. Some players are great at swatting small fry but come up short when it matters.
Some players are literally at the wrong club to win much/anything - Harry Kane is example par excellence right now, and Shearer before him.

jem

Sheerer Suarez's salah
Kane not in top 10

noodler

I haven't seen a season or two like Suarez's but on terms of doing it over longer period.. probably Shearer and Henry.

The_Kew_Tour

Shearer, RVN and Aguero

JPA

Barring injury, and especially if he moves, I think Harry Kane can beat Shearer's record.

osarusan

Shearer for me. The most goals in the EPL, while spending comparatively little time at a top team/team challenging for the title compared to those nearest him.

Ashbourne hoop

Rooney has to be up there.

ELM327

Cantona, Henry, Suarez.

event

Alan Shearer.
Broke the 30 goal barrier in 3 seasons. Broke the 20 goal barrier in 4 other seasons. And he did this playing for Newcastle. Suffered some serious knee injuries as well and came back each time.

The strikers role is to score goals. He did it consistently for 14 years.

No question for me

CSF

Shearer for me aswell. Incredible record over a long spell.

Agent Coulson

If you were to build a striker you would build Shearer.

Shearer for me was the best in the last 30 years.

Xterminator

For me alan shearer by a margin. He took a journeyman team and won the league with them. His goal return in this team was phenomenal. If he had gone to united i shudder to think how many chances they would have created for him, but was was an assassin on front of goal. In 3 seasons he finished on 30 goals plus and he had more hat tricks than henry too!!! 260 goals in 441 matches (both blackburn and newcastle). His cool finishing meant he finished chances consistently & noone has scored 30 plus goals in more than 1 season but he did it in 3!

i think thierry henry was a better all round player, with more skill and panache. Easier on the eye & a higher goal to game ratio I rate shearer above henry - as a striker, but accept henry was a better all rounder.

Aguero is a funny one - its just been announced he is leaving, and i guess in a couple of years we might move him up the list - on reflection. for me he is top 3, and with 4 league titles - i think he may eventually be considered the GOAT. But how do you rate someone in a team that has players like KDB that can hand up chances on a plate? Would my granny not have a good scoring record in that team?

Shearers ability to battle & carve a chance out of nowhere just pips it for me.

artanevilla

+1 for Shearer, his record is really phenomenal when you consider he was playing with a pretty average team around him for most of his career.

Joe Don Dante

i'd go for Thierry Henry

Shanotheslayer

Statistically speaking Shearer. I don't remember much of his peak though.

Henry for me was the man he was just so graceful. Made it look so easy

Suarez over those 2 seasons. He was unbeatable. I think one season he was banned for like 6 games or something and still got 30 or close to it.

simongurnick

Matt le tissier. Different gravy.

celt262

Shearer

ctrl-alt-delete

Shearer for me, he was phenomenal.

Not just a clinical poacher & finisher of other people's chances, he could create chances for himself. He could do it all.

He may have won more trophies had he went to United, but that was never going to happen. He captained his hometown club and became their all time record scorer.

His goalscoring record speaks for itself.

tastyt

Shearer , complete striker .

1o059k7ewrqj3n

Paulo Wanchope.

ShamoBuc

Shearer all day long.

Bobby Baccala

Henry or Aguero

plibige

Henry, with Shearer and Aguero very close to him.

Any other striker mentioned didn't have the longevity of success and I think that has to be factored in when you talk about premier league history.

Kane will be in that mix by the end of his career

Fann Linn

Sniffer Clarke of LUFC.

banie01

This is one of those questions that has a fairly simple answer.
The numbers don't lie.

It's Shearer.
There have been more talented, more gifted and more lauded strikers in the PL certainly.
But.
None have been as consistent, as him.

Also this best "PL" striker ever shíte?

There was football before the PL, and Shearer has 23 pre-PL topflight goals.
I make his total at the top level 283, not 260.

This rewriting of history to frame records as PL only.
It sells great players short.
It's a marketing trick and it needs to be called out as the bollox it is.

Now I'd add RvP, Torres, Suarez and Van Nistelroy to the great players list.
But Shearer is miles ahead of the competition IMO.

At a better club than Newcastle he would certainly have been far better regarded against the others.

JPA

Henry for me, he was just phenomenally good, also racked up huge number of assists.

Shearer was a machine but personal preference is Henry.

FatherTed

banie01 wrote: »

This is one of those questions that has a fairly simple answer.
The numbers don't lie.

It's Shearer.
There have been more talented, more gifted and more lauded strikers in the PL certainly.
But.
None have been as consistent, as him.

Also this best "PL" striker ever shíte?

There was football before the PL, and Shearer has 23 pre-PL topflight goals.
I make his total at the top level 283, not 260.

This rewriting of history to frame records as PL only.
It sells great players short.
It's a marketing trick and it needs to be called out as the bollox it is.

Now I'd add RvP, Torres, Suarez and Van Nistelroy to the great players list.
But Shearer is miles ahead of the competition IMO.

At a better club than Newcastle he would certainly have been far better regarded against the others.

The question is "best Premier League striker" after all....

It is Shearer yes but I'd put in a shout for the oft forgotten Andy Cole. Scored 187 in the Prem with just 1 penalty compared to Shearer's 260 who scored 56 penalties. So excluding penalties its 204-186 (441 games vs 414)

The Big Easy

banie01 wrote: »

This is one of those questions that has a fairly simple answer.
The numbers don't lie.

It's Shearer.
There have been more talented, more gifted and more lauded strikers in the PL certainly.
But.
None have been as consistent, as him.

Also this best "PL" striker ever shíte?

There was football before the PL, and Shearer has 23 pre-PL topflight goals.
I make his total at the top level 283, not 260.

This rewriting of history to frame records as PL only.
It sells great players short.
It's a marketing trick and it needs to be called out as the bollox it is.

Now I'd add RvP, Torres, Suarez and Van Nistelroy to the great players list.
But Shearer is miles ahead of the competition IMO.

At a better club than Newcastle he would certainly have been far better regarded against the others.

Jimmy Greaves it is then!

The Big Easy

It's got to be Thierry Henry for me, he was unplayable on his day and I'm anything but an Arsenal fan.

Andy Cole was always my favourite player as a United fan and criminally underrated. Cantona was iconic and club changing.

Shearer, undoubtedly a great, was easy not to like.

SlickRic

i did want to title it 'Best Striker to ever play in the English league', but...

1. That's a bit of a cumbersome title.
2. Dixie Dean would win, and there'd be no debate.

Agent Coulson

SlickRic wrote: »

i did want to title it 'Best Striker to ever play in the English league', but...

1. That's a bit of a cumbersome title.
2. Dixie Dean would win, and there'd be no debate.

Jimmy Greaves might have something to say about that.

Edit; Out of the top 10 goal scorers in English top flight football there are only two players in it that played after 1940 they are Greaves and Shearer.

There are only 7 players from after 1940 in the top 20, Greaves, Shearer, Lofthouse, Rush, David Herd, Cottee & Hurst.

Seems it was a lot easier to score goals pre 1940.


Dave Halliday scored 100 goals in his first 101 games for Sunderland & a total of 156 goals in 166 games again this was pre 1940.


So i would say there is a debate.

Ashbourne hoop

I'd have Rooney ahead of Shearer any day.

dfx-

banie01 wrote: »

This is one of those questions that has a fairly simple answer.
The numbers don't lie.

The numbers don't lie, but they are not everything. It's like asking who the best cricketer ever is and it is Bradman and you stop after the 1930s. An average of 99 is never going to be beaten or even approached.

irelandrover

For me it's Shearer. He was the best striker IMO and the person I'd most like to see on the end of a chance created.

Big Ears

Liam O wrote: »

Why Cantona doesn't get mentioned in these I'll never know.

But sure, I'll go for the one who was the best player out of all them and won the league every full season he played in it.

While no doubt a great player, he scored nowhere near as many goals as the other players mentioned and even the amount of assists he provided doesn't make up for that (Rooney is the answer if you go that direction).
Then when you factor in he was playing in the Premier League at a time when it was realistically at it's weakest in relation to other leagues in Europe, it doesn't bode well for him in this conversation.

Shearer, Rooney, Henry and probably the man who inspired this thread are all worthy of consideration.
Depending on what exactly you're looking for from a striker, you can probably make a strong argument for any one of them.

event

Liam O wrote: »

Why Cantona doesn't get mentioned in these I'll never know.

But sure, I'll go for the one who was the best player out of all them and won the league every full season he played in it.

Because he scored 70 goals

Agent Coulson

Firmino has as many goals as Cantona both having played 5 seasons respectively for Man U and Liverpool I doubt many would even consider putting either of them even in the top 25 of strikers.


Neither of their games was built as a straight out and out striker.

gormdubhgorm

event wrote: »

Because he scored 70 goals

I am not a fan of any PL English team.

But for me Cantona went missing in Europe, with Man United. If he was that good he could have dragged the team by the scruff of the neck.

I always get the feeling the building up of Cantona was basically because he saved Man United from the doldrums, in the league. He was French - which meant exotic, plus they could create an an aura/myth about him.

I would agree with other posters that it has to be Shearer. Even though he was dirty fecker who used his elbows and had a stupid celebration.

Overall in the English league pre PL it would have to be Kenny Dalglish for impact, skill, and consistency. Plus he did it in Europe.

I agree with another poster that football should not be cut off to PL only. That is basically a relic of the SKY creation. As SKY pretend football did not exist until they appeared.

tom1ie

jem wrote: »

Sheerer Suarez's salah
Kane not in top 10

How is Kane not in the top 10?

billyhead

Shearer for me. It's a pity he turned down a transfer to my team Man Utd on 2 occasions.

tom1ie

banie01 wrote: »

This is one of those questions that has a fairly simple answer.
The numbers don't lie.

It's Shearer.
There have been more talented, more gifted and more lauded strikers in the PL certainly.
But.
None have been as consistent, as him.

Also this best "PL" striker ever shíte?

There was football before the PL, and Shearer has 23 pre-PL topflight goals.
I make his total at the top level 283, not 260.

This rewriting of history to frame records as PL only.
It sells great players short.
It's a marketing trick and it needs to be called out as the bollox it is.

Now I'd add RvP, Torres, Suarez and Van Nistelroy to the great players list.
But Shearer is miles ahead of the competition IMO.

At a better club than Newcastle he would certainly have been far better regarded against the others.

Kane is on track to beat shearers record which automatically makes him the best when he does beat the record I suppose.

gormdubhgorm

tom1ie wrote: »

Kane is on track to beat shearers record which automatically makes him the best when he does beat the record I suppose.

Kane creates now as well, more than Shearer did I would say.

banie01

tom1ie wrote: »

Kane is on track to beat shearers record which automatically makes him the best when he does beat the record I suppose.

On PL numbers alone, then yes it would.

But the point I laboured in my earlier post is that the PL only mindset of judging records is very narrow.

pjohnson

Surprised van Nistelrooy is often ignored in these discussions.

The Big Easy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Jimmy Greaves might have something to say about that.

Edit; Out of the top 10 goal scorers in English top flight football there are only two players in it that played after 1940 they are Greaves and Shearer.

There are only 7 players from after 1940 in the top 20, Greaves, Shearer, Lofthouse, Rush, David Herd, Cottee & Hurst.

Seems it was a lot easier to score goals pre 1940.


Dave Halliday scored 100 goals in his first 101 games for Sunderland & a total of 156 goals in 166 games again this was pre 1940.


So i would say there is a debate.

I wasn't around at the time but Jimmy Greaves getting injured in the group stages of '66 really screwed him from a legacy perspective.

Fair play to Geoff Hurst, he went and did it, and maybe they wouldn't have won it had Jimmy not got injured.

However, if he was man who fired England to World Cup glory, I wonder how different his legacy would be? He'd be Sir Jimmy Greaves for one thing and up there alongside Banks, Moore and Charlton as the heroes of that team.

eh i dunno

Shearer all day for me. Unreal player

Hercule Poirot

If we're talking the best of all time it's Dixie Dean, hands down - that goals to games ratio was insane and will never be topped. People may roll out the "it was a different game, a different time" arguement but..... he was also a product of that game/time so that makes the point moot. In seventy years time will people be discounting Messi and Ronaldo because "it was a different time"? I doubt it.

If we're going for PL then again, hands down, it's Shearer. People can discuss that he didn't create goals for others, wasn't technically brilliant but a striker's job is to score goals and he was phenomenal at it.