The Premier League has had some incredible strikers over the years, with stars such as Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Didier Drogba and Robin van Persie banging in goals for fun (and the millions of pounds they earned, of course). More recently the likes of Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane, Mo Salah and, of course, Erling Haaland, have been terrorising defences and goalkeepers in the English top flight.
Shearer, the Premier League’s record goalscorer, most famously played for Newcastle United, although he only won the title when playing for Blackburn Rovers. Back to the Magpies, though, and the side have also enjoyed the services of Andrew Cole, Michael Owen (albeit for a brief spell) and other magnificent attackers, such as Les Ferdinand. However, their current star, Swede Alexander Isak, might just be the best striker they have ever had.
Newcastle’s Current Star
Alexander Isak cannot stop scoring 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qQMwcw22wK
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 4, 2025
Realistically, Isak has a lot to do before he will be considered alongside Shearer, Jackie Milburn and Malcolm Macdonald, with those legends all playing for the club for a longer period. However, right now, the performances that Isak is producing, and his stats, certainly mean he is worthy of being compared to those club icons.
On Sunday the 23rd of February 2025, Isak netted another two goals for the Toon Army to help his side to a 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest. That result could prove crucial in the battle for a spot in the Champions League next season but for the player himself, the goals propelled him into an elite group of the Premier League’s hottest hotshots.
His second goal against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men was his 50th in the competition. Scoring 50 Premier League goals is nothing that overly special in and of itself. After all, hitting that milestone still leaves Isak a whopping 210 goals behind Shearer and level with Ashley Young, the competition’s highest-scoring defender according to the Premier League’s official site – although it should be noted he scored most of those goals from a more advanced position.
However, what is special about the accomplishment of Newcastle’s sensational number 14 is that he has reached the 50-goal landmark in just 76 appearances. Isak will not turn 26 until September and is certain to score many more goals before he exits the Premier League. When that will be is hard to determine, with few clubs anywhere in the world able to afford the £150m or so it is thought would be required to even interest Newcastle in selling.
Moreover, if he does leave the North East, as has been an on-and-off rumour for months, it may well be to join another Premier League club. Arsenal were the first to express solid interest in the tricky Swede, but Chelsea and Liverpool are just two other teams that would no doubt love to have him in their team.
For now, however, and until at least the end of the 2024/25 season, Isak remains a Mag and all Geordies will be savouring his brilliance and hoping his goal can fire them back into the Champions League next term.
Alexander Isak’s 50 Premier League Goals in 76 Games
50 @premierleague goals for Alexander Isak! 🥶🇸🇪🇪🇷 pic.twitter.com/CW39BFtkj0
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) February 23, 2025
Isak signed for Newcastle on the 26th of August 2022, joining from Spanish side Real Sociedad for a fee believed to be just north of £60m. That seemed like a lot of money at the time for a striker who never scored more than 17 goals in a season and only managed 10 in 41 games in his last full campaign with Sociedad.
However, it soon looked like money well spent on a young player who had vast potential and was just on the cusp of realising it. He netted 10 times in 27 matches for the Toon Army in his first season with the club, improving to 25 in 40 the following term. It is in 2024/25, however, that we are truly seeing what the Solna native is capable of.
After his brace against Forest, he has now scored 21 goals in 30 matches for Newcastle in 2024/25. His strike rate in the league is even more impressive, with 19 of his goals coming in the Premier League, from just 24 matches. He got 10 in the league in 2022/23 (22 games) and then 21 from 30 Premier League outings the following season, with his 19 to date in 2024/25 seeing him hit the magical 50.
He scored his first Premier League goal on his club debut, a 2-1 loss at Anfield, where he underlined his ability by putting in a Man of the Match performance, despite his side’s loss. His time on Tyneside has been affected by injuries but despite missing a reasonable number of games, he has shown no signs of rustiness and rarely goes more than a few matches without scoring.
He is a very hard player to put in a box, with his style of play blending that of many greats of the past. Thierry Henry is an obvious comparison, due to his ability to glide past players at pace, but he also has elements of Salah and compatriot Zlatan Ibrahimović, whilst his natural finishing is reminiscent of a player like Van Persie.
His trickery and dribbling ability mean he also brings assists to the table, with five this far in 2024/25 and eight in total. Those eight assists mean he has 58 goal involvement from just 76 Premier League matches, or one every 1.31 clashes. That sort of ratio puts him right up there with the best the league has ever seen and seems likely to improve too. But where does he stand in terms of the fastest players to reach 50 Premier League goals?
How Does Isak Compare to the Fastest to 50?
Impressive as the Swede has been, six players have reached 50 goals in the modern iteration of the English top flight in fewer games than his 76. The name at the top of the list will be of little surprise to anyone who follows the sport, and that man is Erling Haaland.
The mighty Norwegian took to the Premier League like a father entering his kid’s kickaround. Except we hope few fathers would bully their children the way Haaland did the top flight’s defenders. Haaland had a stunning start in English football, banging in a record 36 goals in his first season. He then carried on where he left off, bringing up the half-century from just 48 games, smashing yet another record in the process.
The Magnificent 7
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That record was Andrew Cole’s 65 games to reach 50 goals, a mark that the Nottingham-born goal poacher set whilst at Man United, though most of his goals at that point had come for Newcastle. Third on the list is Mr Newcastle, Shearer, and whilst he netted 206 times for his hometown club, his first 50 Premier League goals came from 66 games with Blackburn. The full top seven list is below:
- Erling Haaland – 48 games
- Andrew Cole – 65 games
- Alan Shearer – 66 games
- Ruud van Nistelrooy – 68 games
- Fernando Torres – 72 games
- Mo Salah – 72 games
- Alexander Isak – 76 games