The following is an amalgamation of the most clinical strikers in the world in the last years of (2012 to 2018), purely based on conversion rate.
For this little project of mine, I have, with the help of Twitter, picked out some strikers who’ve all had great seasons and analyzed their conversion rate. The goals counted only include those there were scored in league play. Simple.
50th: Alvaro Negredo (12/13)
16.6%
49th: Luca Toni (12/13)
16.8%
48th: Luis Suarez (13/14)
17.1%
47th: Antonio Di Natale (12/13)
17.4%
46th: Lukaku (12/13) and Aguero (14/15)
17.5%
44th: Paulo Dybala (15/16)
17.7%
43rd: Alberto Bueno (14/15)
18%
42nd: Icardi (16/17) and Benteke (12/13)
18.2%
40th: Mertens (16/17), Cavani (12/13), Van Persie (12/13) and Ben Yedder (13/14)
18.5%
36th: Harry Kane (14/15)
18.8%
35th: Lionel Messi (16/17)
19.1%
34th: Alexis Sanchez (16/17)
19.3%
33rd: Lewandowski (15/16) and Higuain (15/16)
19.8%
31st: Stefan Kießling (12/13)
20.6%
30th: Jamie Vardy (15/16)
20.8%
29th: Mauro Icardi (14/15)
21%
28th: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (15/16)
21.1%
27th: Daniel Sturridge (13/14)
21.2%
26th: Aritz Aduriz (15/16)
21.5%
Also Read: Kevin Kampl Top Bargain
Into the Top 25…
Into the Top 25…25th: Ciro Immobile (13/14)
The Italian scored 22 goals in his debut season for Torino, with a conversion rate of 21.7%. He was sold on to Dortmund the next summer, where he flopped. He’s now at Lazio, after spells at Sevilla and a short return stint at Torino.
24th: Radamel Falcao (12/13)
“El Tigre” scored 28 goals in the 12/13 season, with the quite impressive conversion rate of 22.7%. He earned himself a big money move to Monaco the next summer, though a knee injury saw him miss most of the following year, and perhaps played a factor in his poor performances at United and Chelsea as well. He seems to have returned to his old self this season though, thankfully.
23rd: Luis Suárez (16/17)
Since joining Barca from Liverpool in 2014, Suárez has really established himself as one of the best strikers in the world, although he already was up there at Liverpool. In the 16/17 season the 30 year old Uruguayan scored 21 goals with a conversion rate of 23.5%.
22nd: Mario Mandžukić (13/14)
The 6’3″ Croatian striker arguably had his best season to date at Bayern back in the 2013/14 season, where he, with a conversion rate of 23.6%, scored 18 goals.
21st: Meier (14/15) and Soldado (12/13)
Alexander “Fußballgott” Meier scored a total of 19 goals, with the impressive conversion rate of 24%. Soldado, however, scored 24 goals with the same conversion rate.
19th: Giuseppe Rossi (13/14)
The American-born Italian started playing football at Parma before moving to Manchester United, where he stayed for 3 years before signing for Villareal. He signed for Fiorentina 6 years later, though he had missed 2 years with injury. The injury problems continued, though he scored 16 goals in the 13/14 season, with a conversion rate of 24.3%. He’s now at Celta Vigo on loan.
18th: Karim Benzema (15/16)
The talented 29 year old French-Algerian striker has been at Real Madrid since 2009. However, the 15/16 campaign was arguably his best season. He managed 24 goals and boasted a conversion rate of 24.4%.
17th: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (15/16)
Call him arrogant, call him old, call him whatever you want, but you cannot say that Zlatan does not score goals. The tall Swede scored an astonishing 38 goals in 31 appearances for PSG last season with a 24.6% conversion rate.
16th: Diego Costa (13/14)
Coming in at 16th place we’ve got Diego Costa! The Brazil-born Spaniard scored an impressive 27 goals for Atletico in the 13/14 season, a production rate that eventually earned him a move to Chelsea. His conversion rate? 25%. That’s an average of a goal every 4 shots.
15th: Andrea Belotti (16/17)
Into the top 15 we go, and at 15th place we’ve got Torino’s number 9, Andrea Belotti. The Italian striker has really bloomed this season, scoring an impressive 22 goals so far, with a conversion rate of 25.5%.
14th: Edinson Cavani (16/17)
Even though he’s got a label on him as a “bottler,” Cavani keeps performing. The Uruguayan striker, who was born in the same year and city as Luis Suarez, has scored 27 goals this season, averaging a goal every 84 minutes. His conversion rate of 25.9% is quite impressive for a “bottler”.
13th: Romelu Lukaku (16/17)
Despite often being mocked for his heavy first touch, there’s no denying that Lukaku is a fantastic goalscorer. The tall Belgian striker has scored 20 goals this season, with an exquisite conversion rate of 26.6%.
12th: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (16/17)
Coming in for his second inclusion on the list, it’s Aubameyang! The rapid striker has scored 23 goals in as many games, with a 27% conversion rate. Despite being born in France, Aubameyang chose to represent his father’s native country, Gabon.
11th: Harry Kane (16/17)
Kane also comes in for his second inclusion, with him only just missing out on the top 10. Kane often gets abuse for being a “tap-in merchant” and a “penalty merchant,” traits that provide a shade of doubt to his goal scoring credentials if you believe them to be true. He has, with a conversion rate of 27.5%, scored 19 goals so far this season.
10th: Alexandre Lacazette (14/15)
On to the top 10! First inclusion: Lacazette. The French striker has played at Lyon his whole career, with one of his better seasons coming in 2014/15. He scored 27 goals, with a sublime conversion rate of 28.1%.
9th: Modeste (16/17) and Griezmann (14/15)
At 9th place we’ve got a tie, with both Modeste and Griezmann having a conversion rate of 28.3%. The former has scored an impressive 22 goals this season, helping Köln climb to 6th place in the Bundesliga table. The latter also scored 22 goals, helping Atletico finish the 14/15 season in 3rd place, only behind Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.
7th: Kylian Mbappe Lottin (16/17)
Despite the fact that he’s only 18, he’s scored 12 goals for Monaco this season, helping them to the top of the table (as of right now). All this with the highly impressive conversion rate of 28.5%. Not your average teenager.
6th: Carlos Bacca (14/15)
The 30 year old Colombian’s career is like a fairytale. Back in 2007, he had given up the dream of playing professionally. He worked as a bus driver and sold fish when he wasn’t driving. About 5 years later, he signed for Club Brugge in Belgium. He scored 22 goals in 25 games, earning himself a move to Sevilla. Fast forward another 3 years and Bacca was banging in 20 La Liga goals with a conversion rate of 28.9%. As if that wasn’t enough, he scored the winner in the Europa League final.
Into the top 5 then…
5th: Alexander Lacazette (16/17)
Lacazette is back for his second inclusion in the top 10. In the 16/17 season the Frenchman has scored 23 goals so far with a conversion rate of 29.7%.
4th: Radamel Falcao (16/17)
Remember how I said that Falcao seems to have got his career back on track? Well, he’s scored 16 goals this season, an average of one goal every 88 minutes. He takes the fourth spot on the list with his impressive conversion rate of 29.8%.
3rd: Dario Cvitanich (12/13)
Into the top 3 we go, and coming in at third place is Dario Cvitanich! The Argentine-Croatian striker scored 19 goals back in 2012/13, with a whopping conversion rate of 32.8%. That’s nearly 1 goal every 3 shots.
2nd: Bas Dost (16/17)
Who’s second best if not Bas Dost? The tall Dutch striker has scored an impressive 24 goals in only 23 games so far this season. His conversion rate is above impressive though, standing at a whopping 36%. Meaning he needs LESS than 3 shots to score a goal (on average). Out of this world.
Who’s the winner? Who is THE most lethal striker on the planet?
1st: Bas Dost (14/15)
That’s right. Bas Dost single handedly occupies both of the top two spots. Back in his Wolfsburg days, also known as his one good season (later proven incorrect as number 2 on the list suggests), he scored 16 goals in 21 games. Not too impressive, you might think. But think again. The striker had an insane conversion rate of 37.2%. That’s a goal every 2.6 shots. Incredible.
