There's so much talk on here, and elsewhere, about the need for a "proven" 15-20 goal a season striker. Obviously that would be wonderful but I thought it might be interesting to see how many strikers have actually managed to score 15 or more in a season.
For no reason in particular I've looked at the past six seasons in the Premier League. During this time 25 players have scored 15 or more goals in a single season. 13 of these players have hit 15 (or more) goals only once and six more players have done it twice in the past six years.
Only six players have scored 15 or more goals in three or more seasons in the Premier League in the past six years. Obviously, this low number can be explained for a number of reasons over and above the fact that scoring 15 goals in a season is quite difficult - some players will have been injured or will have moved to other leagues or only recently arrived in the Premier League etc.
However, it is interesting (to me at least) that only six players have managed 15 goals a season in three or more of the last six seasons. These players are:
Kane - Scored 15+ goals every season for the past 6 seasons - averaging 23 per season
Aguero - Scored 15+ goals every season for the past 6 seasons - averaging 21 per season
Vardy - Scored 15+ goals in 4 of the past 6 seasons
Salah - Scored 15+ goals in each of his 3 seasons in the PL with Liverpool - averaging 24 per season
Lukaku - Scored 15+ goals in 3 of the last 5 seasons before moving to Serie A
Sterling - Scored 15+ goals in the past three seasons
Among other things, what these stats suggest to me is that only the real elite players can regularly hit 15 or more goals a season. To hit those levels we need to either buy one of the above or find someone at that level. In my humble opinion, neither of these things is going to happen. Even players many of us have wanted (or dreamed of) playing for the Albion don't actually hit the number of goals many of us seem to think we need from a single player. Giroud has only got to 15 goals once (16 goals in 2015/16), same with Firmino (15 goals in 2017/18), Martial (17 in 2019/20) and Rashford (17 in 2019/20).
Occassionally someone from a lesser team will have a purple patch and hit 15 goals in a single season such as when Austin got 18 for QPR in 2014/15, Ighalo got 16 for Watford in 2015/16, Llorente got 16 for Swansea in 2016/17 or last year when Ings managed 22 in a season. Similarly, a lot of well-established (and very good) strikers have never hit 15 goals in a Premier League season. This list includes Lacazette, Jesus, Son, Origi, Wilson, Wood and Richarlison.
Anyway, in conclusion, with a fair wind, it might be possible to get someone in the Brighton team to 15 goals in a season but doing this regularly would be a Herculean task. Even much bigger names in much better teams have failed to be regular "15 goal a season" strikers. A far more realistic and achieveable aim is to hope that we manage to have two or three players that hit between 8-12 goals a season and that other parts of the squad start to chip in more than they have been.
For no reason in particular I've looked at the past six seasons in the Premier League. During this time 25 players have scored 15 or more goals in a single season. 13 of these players have hit 15 (or more) goals only once and six more players have done it twice in the past six years.
Only six players have scored 15 or more goals in three or more seasons in the Premier League in the past six years. Obviously, this low number can be explained for a number of reasons over and above the fact that scoring 15 goals in a season is quite difficult - some players will have been injured or will have moved to other leagues or only recently arrived in the Premier League etc.
However, it is interesting (to me at least) that only six players have managed 15 goals a season in three or more of the last six seasons. These players are:
Kane - Scored 15+ goals every season for the past 6 seasons - averaging 23 per season
Aguero - Scored 15+ goals every season for the past 6 seasons - averaging 21 per season
Vardy - Scored 15+ goals in 4 of the past 6 seasons
Salah - Scored 15+ goals in each of his 3 seasons in the PL with Liverpool - averaging 24 per season
Lukaku - Scored 15+ goals in 3 of the last 5 seasons before moving to Serie A
Sterling - Scored 15+ goals in the past three seasons
Among other things, what these stats suggest to me is that only the real elite players can regularly hit 15 or more goals a season. To hit those levels we need to either buy one of the above or find someone at that level. In my humble opinion, neither of these things is going to happen. Even players many of us have wanted (or dreamed of) playing for the Albion don't actually hit the number of goals many of us seem to think we need from a single player. Giroud has only got to 15 goals once (16 goals in 2015/16), same with Firmino (15 goals in 2017/18), Martial (17 in 2019/20) and Rashford (17 in 2019/20).
Occassionally someone from a lesser team will have a purple patch and hit 15 goals in a single season such as when Austin got 18 for QPR in 2014/15, Ighalo got 16 for Watford in 2015/16, Llorente got 16 for Swansea in 2016/17 or last year when Ings managed 22 in a season. Similarly, a lot of well-established (and very good) strikers have never hit 15 goals in a Premier League season. This list includes Lacazette, Jesus, Son, Origi, Wilson, Wood and Richarlison.
Anyway, in conclusion, with a fair wind, it might be possible to get someone in the Brighton team to 15 goals in a season but doing this regularly would be a Herculean task. Even much bigger names in much better teams have failed to be regular "15 goal a season" strikers. A far more realistic and achieveable aim is to hope that we manage to have two or three players that hit between 8-12 goals a season and that other parts of the squad start to chip in more than they have been.
