Beckham, Rooney, Kane: The most prolific English player in each year of the 21st century

It may come as a surprise to learn that Jadon Sancho has been the most prolific English footballer in the world so far in 2021.

Despite his tepid start to life at Manchester United, the 21-year-old has contributed to more goals than any other player from the nation currently ranked third in the FIFA world rankings this year.

In his 26 games across all competitions at club level in 2021, Sancho has netted 12 goals and produced the same number of assists.

All those contributions came with Borussia Dortmund and the youngster's overall contribution total of 24 is two more than Tottenham's Harry Kane in second.

Not bad, Jadon.

If Sancho can rediscover his best form at United for the remainder of the year and keep ahold of top spot, he'll join the exclusive club of players to finish as England's most prolific footballer from a team in Europe's top 15 leagues in a calendar year this century.

Below, we've detailed all the current members, with all the stats sourced from Transfermarkt.

Let's begin...

Games: 48

Goals: 15

Assists: 20

2001 | Michael Owen (Liverpool) - 34

Games: 41

Goals: 27

Assists: 7

2002 | Alan Shearer (Newcastle) - 39

Games: 52

Goals: 31

Assists: 8

2003 | David Beckham (Manchester United & Real Madrid) - 31

Games: 47

Goals: 13

Assists: 18

2004 | Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 30

Games: 58

Goals: 14

Assists: 16

2005 | Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 44

Games: 56

Goals: 26

Assists: 18

2006 | Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 33

Games: 53

Goals: 16

Assists: 17

2007 | Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 38

Games: 48

Goals: 23

Assists: 15

2008 | Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 38

Games: 45

Goals: 22

Assists: 16

2009 | Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 38

Games: 56

Goals: 17

Assists: 21

2010 | Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 32

Games: 35

Goals: 21

Assists: 11

2011 | Gary Hooper (Celtic) - 42

Games: 51

Goals: 26

Assists: 16

2012 | Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 43

Games: 40

Goals: 27

Assists: 16

2013 | Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 42

Games: 41

Goals: 19

Assists: 23

2014 | Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - 25

Games: 47

Goals: 16

Assists: 9

2015 | Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 37

Games: 51

Goals: 29

Assists: 8

2016 | Louis Moult (Motherwell) - 27

Games: 39

Goals: 18

Assists: 9

2017 | Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 58

Games: 46

Goals: 49

Assists: 9

2018 | Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 41

Games: 51

Goals: 34

Assists: 7

2019 | Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) - 49

Games: 54

Goals: 35

Assists: 14

2020 | Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 36

Games: 33

Goals: 23

Assists: 13

ENTER GIVEAWAY

Beckham (x2), Lampard (x5), Rooney (x4) and Kane (x4) are the players to have finished as England's most prolific footballer in a calendar year this century on more than one occasion.

Kane's record of 58 goal contributions in 2017 is comfortably the highest total by an Englishman over a 12-month period since the turn of the millennium.

The Spurs man really is the definition of world-class.

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