Football is a team sport but sometimes players stand out when their team succeeds and that’s no different in the Championship.
It will take a long time for someone to replicate what Aleksandar Mitrović did for Fulham last year, scoring 43 goals in 44 matches, which broke the record for highest scoring English league season in a 46-game format.
Last year, Bristol City’s Andreas Weimann had a career best season having recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. The 30-year-old netted 22 goals and got 10 assists, finishing third in the top scorer charts.
Weimann achieved that feat in spite of recovering from an injury and also not being an out-and-out striker, having mainly played as an attacking midfielder, providing service to Chris Martin and Antoine Semenyo.
Now both Mitrovic and Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke are out of the picture, he along with Joel Piroe of Swansea City and Ben Brereton of Blackburn Rovers are up next from goals last season and some may have ambitions to win the Golden Boot award.
There are a few players from the recently relegated Premier League teams; Burnley, Norwich City and Watford, who either had proven goal scorers on their books already or have gone out to recruit them to get them back to the English top flight.
We take a look at the runners and riders in this year’s race for the Championship Golden Boot. A ball hasn’t been kicked yet and there’s still plenty of business to be done until the season opener on July 30 so expect things to change.
We’ve taken a look at the predictions to be named the Championship top scorer below…
*All odds courtesy of Betfred and correct at time of writing.
1. Teemu Puki (Norwich City)
Betfred odds: 8/1 Photo: Pete Norton/Getty Images
2. Daryl Dike (West Bromwich Albion)
Betfred odds: 12/1 Photo: Andy Jacobsohn/AFP via Getty Images
3. Billy Sharp (Sheffield United)
Betfred odds: 16/1 Photo: George Wood/Getty Images
4. Karlan Grant (West Bromwich Albion)
Betfred odds: 16/1 Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images