Former Arsenal player Paul Merson has revealed who he thinks will win the Premier League’s Golden Boot award in 2023-24, and it is surprisingly not Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
City spent around £51million when signing Haaland from Borussia Dortmund last summer. The Norwegian went on to break a host of records during his first season in England, netting an incredible 52 goals in 53 matches to help City win the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
Haaland stormed to the Golden Boot last term, with 36 of those strikes coming in 35 league outings. Harry Kane finished in second place on 30 goals, while Brentford’s Ivan Toney impressed as he came in third place with a tally of 20.
Many would expect Haaland to retain the goalscoring award after he dominated defences last season. However, Merson has gone down a different avenue by putting his faith in Tottenham talisman Kane, as well as giving an honourable mention to Liverpool ace Mo Salah.
In an interview with Sportskeeda, the pundit explained why Haaland’s scoring rate might slow down, something which shouldn’t affect Kane.
“I’m going to go with Harry Kane for the Premier League Golden Boot next season. Erling Haaland stopped scoring goals towards the end of last season, didn’t he? I’m not sure if teams have snuffed him out,” Merson said.
“Harry Kane’s record has been incredible. He got to 30 goals last season without scoring four goals a game. What he’s done is phenomenal in my opinion and if he does go to Manchester United, I don’t see how he doesn’t win the Golden Boot.
“It’s going to be difficult for Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku to win the Golden Boot, because we’re not sure who’s going to play at Chelsea. The big advantage that the likes of Haaland, Kane, and Mohamed Salah have is that they know they’re going to be playing every game.
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“The likes of Darwin Nunez and Alexander Isak won’t be playing every game either. Julian Alvarez is also a great player, but he’d have to get a hat-trick in every game he plays to get close. He’s a starter in almost every other team in Europe.
“Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli couldn’t have played any better than they did last season, and they didn’t get close to Kane and Haaland. You’ve got a lot of forwards getting to 15 goals in the Premier League, but that’s not going to win you the Golden Boot.”
Kane does deserve such praise after what he did last term. While Haaland plays in a City team which creates a host of chances each game, Kane stars in a Spurs side that has been low in confidence in recent seasons.
The only problem when it comes to Kane potentially winning the next Golden Boot is that he might not actually be playing in England next season.
Bayern have set their sights on him after he entered the final 12 months of his contract in North London.
The German champions have had bids worth £60m and £70m rejected by Spurs. The two teams will meet again next week as Bayern aim to strike an agreement. And The Telegraph state Bayern could bid as much as £86m to sign the England captain.
