The Premier League's Legendary Strikers Have Been Ranked From 'GOAT' To 'Not A Footballer'
Sergio Aguero, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Harry Kane and co are put in their TierMaker ranking.
Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero and Tottenham striker Harry Kane are part of SPORTbible's rankings for iconic Premier League strikers, from the greatest ever to 'Overrated' and even 'Not A Footballer'.
Aguero boasts the league's best goal-per-minute ratio, while Alan Shearer has the most Premier League goals (260). But neither tops SPORTbible's TierMaker ranking.
The 'GOAT' alone at the top is Thierry Henry, the Arsenal No 14 who was fast, a goalscorer, an assist machine, a magician: basically every type of striker rolled into one. Shearer and Aguero sit proudly in the 'Legend' category, however, alongside Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney.
On the other end of the scale, five players are labelled 'Overrated' because - despite their hoard of Premier League goals - they could have been even greater if they had been dedicated to their craft.
Robbie Fowler is a Liverpool legend, but had his best goal return at age 21 and never fulfilled his huge potential. Emmanuel Adebayor frustrated despite 97 Premier League goals, Carlos Tevez went on strike for a season, while Dwight Yorke also let his off-field activities cut short his peak years.
'Underrated' contains big-name strikers whose exploits are arguably still undervalued. Such as Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku who scored 118 Prem goals but somehow went to Serie A as a "flop" after one poor season at Manchester United.
Then there's the always underrated Olivier Giroud, Nicolas Anelka who moved too much to ever become a great at one club, plus Dion Dublin who surprisingly boasts more Premier League goals than Drogba (winning the all-important DD golden boot battle).
Kane is among the 'Elite' but is surely on course for legendary status. But - as this focuses more on out-and-out strikers - we've not included sublime No 10s like Dennis Bergkamp, Gianfranco Zola or Matt Le Tissier.
It's cheeky but only one player deserves the 'Not A Footballer' tag: a legendary Premier League player only in that his story will never, ever be forgotten.
Ali Dia somehow persuaded Southampton that he was related to George Weah and was an elite footballer (he was neither) in 1996. He was substituted on in a game, then substituted off by Saints boss Graeme Souness when it became clear he - genuinely - wasn't a football player.
Iconic. The rest of the Premier League legendary front men are in their category below.
GOAT: Thierry Henry
Legend: Alan Shearer, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona, Sergio Aguero, Ian Wright, Luis Suarez
Elite: Andy Cole, Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane, Michael Owen, Les Ferdinand, Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Teddy Sheringham, Fernando Torres
Underrated: Olivier Giroud, Romelu Lukaku, Diego Costa, Dion Dublin, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Nicolas Anelka, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane
Overrated: Dwight Yorke, Robbie Fowler, Emmanuel Adebayor, Mark Viduka, Carlos Tevez
Solid: Peter Crouch, Kevin Phillips, Emile Heskey, Yakubu, Chris Sutton, Darren Bent
Not A Footballer: Ali Dia
All spot-on or have we had a nightmare here? Let us know in the comments.
All imagery: PA Images/TierMaker
Words by Alex Reid.
Topics: Sergio Aguero, Football, Carlos Tevez, Premier League, England, Alan Shearer, thierry henry, Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane
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