How Sergio Aguero compares to the Premier League’s greatest-ever strikers

It goes without saying that Sergio Agüero is a Premier League great.

Since the 30-year-old Argentine marksman relocated to England from Atlético Madrid in 2011, he’s tormented defenders while playing a significant role in Manchester City. He’s won three Premier League titles, including their first since 1968 on May 13, 2012, when he snatched glory from the jaws of failure.

Now the club’s all-time record goalscorer, he’s among nine players who have registered 150 or more Premier League strikes. Of those, only Frank Lampard (177) is not who you’d recognise as a centre-forward.

So, following his latest exploits – putting three more goals past Arsenal – it’s worth asking how ‘Kun’ fares against some of the league’s best down the years. The contenders have been whittled down; they have either reached the aforementioned milestone or claimed multiple golden boots.

Our ranking preference is efficiency or, in other words, from worst minutes-per-goal ratio to best.

Wayne Rooney

Goals: 208
Rate per-game: 0.42
Minutes per-goal: 182.8
Hat-tricks: 8

Wayne Rooney started and ended his Premier League career by leading the line. However, for large swaths in between, he operated behind the centre-forward or from the flanks, which didn’t always hinder his goal scoring. Rooney, now representing MLS outfit DC United, left having bagged 94 away goals in the Premier League more than any other player.

Robbie Fowler

Goals: 163
Rate per-game: 0.43
Minutes per-goal: 171.5
Hat-tricks: 9

A natural finisher, the man Liverpool supporters dubbed “God” never reached the heights his talents promised. Fowler, nevertheless, has only been outscored by five players in Premier League history and for 21 years, held the league’s fastest hat-trick record (four minutes and 33 seconds against Arsenal in 1994).

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Goals: 127
Rate per-game: 0.44
Minutes per-goal: 169.8
Hat-tricks: 4

Hasselbaink never played in the Dutch top division but that never stopped him from enjoying a credible international career. His time in English football, meanwhile, spread across four different clubs but it was at Leeds United (1998/99) and Chelsea (2000/01) where he collected two golden boots and is best remembered.

Andrew Cole

Goals: 187
Rate per-game: 0.45
Minutes per-goal: 169.2
Hat-tricks: 5

Cole truly announced himself at Newcastle United by registering 34 goals across 40 matches during the 1993/94 season. He’d ultimately find himself at Manchester United where his status only grew, despite some being critical of his lack of ruthlessness. A notable feat was bagging five goals in a single game against Ipswich Town in 1995, a record he shares with four others: Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov and Agüero.

Didier Drogba

Goals: 104
Rate per-game: 0.41
Minutes per-goal: 168.5
Hat-tricks: 3

A big-game player, Drogba would often come up with the goods in finals, though he wasn’t too shabby across his Premier League tenure either. Arsenal were infamously among his favourite opponents, scoring eight goals across nine league outings against the Gunners. He would also register the same amount in two fewer games against West Brom.

Alan Shearer

Goals: 260
Rate per-game: 0.59
Minutes per-goal: 154.2
Hat-tricks: 11

Shearer’s record of 260 goals in the Premier League should be safe for the foreseeable future. Realistically, his biggest threat comes from Harry Kane, the striker many see as the Geordie’s spiritual heir. Throughout an incredible 14-year league career, he’d fire Blackburn to glory in 1995 whilst bagging a record 11 hat-tricks, which is now under serious threat from Agüero.

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Michael Owen

Goals: 150
Rate per-game: 0.46
Minutes per-goal: 153.4
Hat-tricks: 8

The former ‘boy wonder’. Owen’s prodigious rise from academy prospect to star striker at Liverpool was incredible to watch. However, the light didn’t burn for long as Owen fell victim to injury. That being said, he still reached 150 goals despite enjoying a season outside English football with Real Madrid.

Robin van Persie

Goals: 144
Rate per-game: 0.51
Minutes per-goal: 139.7
Hat-tricks: 5

A number of significant injuries early on in his Premier League career denied Van Persie the numbers he’d ultimately finish with. Across 11 seasons the Dutchman only bagged 20+ goals in 2011/12, his final campaign with Arsenal, and 2012/13, his first with Manchester United.

Thierry Henry

Goals: 175
Rate per-game: 0.68
Minutes per-goal: 121.8
Hat-tricks: 8

At his irresistible best, no one could touch Henry who, in 2004, had strong claims to be named European Footballer of the Year. From being an out of sorts winger, he was converted into one of the most lethal strikers in English football history by the then-Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger.

Harry Kane

Goals: 122
Rate per-game: 0.70
Minutes per-goal: 115.5
Hat-tricks: 8

Once derided as a ‘one-season wonder’, Kane is now the real deal. As long as he remains in a competitive side, the 25-year-old marksman should one day threaten Shearer’s all-time goals record. A two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, Kane is just ahead of Agüero when it comes to goals-per-game, though slightly behind him in terms of minutes-per-goal.

Sergio Agüero

Goals: 157
Rate per-game: 0.69
Minutes per-goal: 107.6
Hat-tricks: 10

Agüero is setting the benchmark. He’s the league’s most efficient 150+ goal striker when it comes to minutes-per-goal and his latest hat-trick against Arsenal moves him to one behind Shearer in the all-time standings.

But, and this is quite incredible, despite his beastly finishing, Aguero has only picked up one Golden Boot.

He will be hoping to change that this season. Kun (14) is currently behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (15) and last season’s recipient, Mohamed Salah (16).

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