Top 10 Premier League players for goal contributions in the 21st century ft. Kane | OneFootball

Over the years, Premier League fans have seen some remarkable players flip the momentum of a game with one bit of magic.

Be it through an excellent finish or an incredible assist, there have just been so many talents who have weighed in when it matters most.

Tottenham Hotspur'sHarry Kane is certainly one man who is no stranger to a goal contribution, with the striker racking up some serious numbers for the north London side.

But might Spurs be without him soon? Bayern Munich are keen on signing the England international and recently had a bid reportedly worth €80 million rejected for the player.

Were he to go, the league would lose one of the best finishers it has ever seen.

But where does Kane rank among modern-day Premier League players for overall goal contributions?

Well, thanks to the team at PopFoot, we can see which 10 players have scored and assisted the most in the Premier League during the 21st century.

PopFoot's cutoff point means that some big names miss out. Yes, Alan Shearer might still be the league’s highest-ever goalscorer, but he doesn't feature.

And even though Kane does make the list, he is some way behind the man in first.

10 Jamie Vardy – 180

The Leicester City frontman made his Premier League debut in 2014 and has gone on to play 307 times in the top-flight.

Most of Vardy’s 180 contributions have unsurprisingly been goals, 13 of which came in 11 consecutive matches back in 2015 which broke Ruud van Nistelrooy's record.

His best tally would come in Leicester’s title-winning season, with the Englishman netting 24 times during the fairy tale campaign.

But he would not win the Golden Boot that year, having to wait until the 2019/20 season when his tally of 23 meant that he finished with one more goal than Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Vardy’s 44 assists mean that he finishes six contributions ahead of Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling, who might yet overtake the veteran in the next campaign.

9 Jermain Defoe - 195

Defoe played for multiple Premier League teams after making his top-flight debut for West Ham.

He was widely regarded as a lethal finisher, but created a chance here and there too, hitting double figures for goal contributions in 11 separate Premier League seasons.

His best season for overall output came during the 2009/10 campaign at Tottenham, with 18 goals and four assists.

He would never win the Golden Boot, but his 162 goals mean that he is the ninth-highest Premier League goalscorer of all time. A phenomenal achievement.

8 Robin van Persie - 197

The Dutch striker joined Arsenal in 2004 from Feyenoord but was a slow burner during his first two seasons at the club, scoring just 10 league goals despite making 50 appearances for the Gunners.

Gradually though, Van Persie would blossom into one of the elite forwards in the league, managing more than 20 goal contributions in four league seasons.

His finest year came in an Arsenal shirt during the 2011/12 campaign when he managed to score 30 goals, winning the Golden Boot as the Gunners finished third.

And his performances that year made it even more heartbreaking for supporters when he left.

Van Persie would sign for Manchester United in the summer of 2012 and would fire them to the league title with 26 goals, getting his hands on the Golden Boot yet again.

He was so good that year that Sir Alex Ferguson even had to shut down suggestions that United were a one-man team.

7 Mohamed Salah – 198

It is startling to think that at one point, Salah was considered a disappointment by Chelsea fans.

After 19 appearances during which he scored just two goals, he would spend time on loan at Fiorentina and Roma before joining the Giallorossi permanently in 2016.

He recaptured some form in the season that followed, and Liverpool would pay the Serie A club £34.3 million in 2017 to bring him to Anfield.

And the rest was history.

Salah’s numbers for Liverpool have been nothing short of extraordinary, with the Egyptian King managing no fewer than 27 goal contributions in a Premier League campaign.

His best year by some way was his first season for the Reds, where he scored an incredible 32 goals and assisted on 10 occasions too.

Even last season, in what was a disappointing campaign for Liverpool, he still managed 31 goal contributions.

He will most likely play a crucial role in the 2023/24 campaign. Don’t expect him to be seventh when he does eventually leave the league.

6 Steven Gerrard – 215

From a Liverpool icon to a club legend.

Gerrard is still considered by some to be the best midfielder to grace the league and was always capable of slicing a defence open with a deft through ball.

Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Fernando Torres and many others were the beneficiaries of Gerrard's incredible ability.

He had a knack for scoring outrageous goals throughout his career too, including this insane strike against Manchester City.

In the 21st century, the England international weighed in with 120 goals and 95 assists before calling time on his career in 2016.

5 Sergio Aguero – 231

There is a bit of a jump as we enter the top five, and we are back to talking about lethal strikers.

Aguero spent ten seasons in at Manchester City, and during that time he established himself as one of the best forwards in the world.

The Argentine would score 20 goals or more on six different occasions, helping City lift a total of five Premier Leagues during his stay at the Etihad.

If you factor assists in as well, Aguero was involved in 20 goals or more in seven out of 10 seasons. An incredible record.

He left as the club’s record goalscorer, but despite his consistent output, he would only have one Golden Boot to his name, something that he achieved in the 2014/15 campaign.

4 Thierry Henry – 249

Widely considered to be one of the best players in Arsenal and Premier League history, it is no surprise to see Henry on this list.

He was capable of scoring some utterly spectacular goals and was a good creator too, weighing in with 74 assists for Arsenal in the 21st century.

Henry was crucial to Arsenal’s success in the early 2000s, especially during the Invincible season when he managed to score 30 goals.

He still holds the record for most Golden Boot awards won by a Premier League player, and his combined goal and assist total of 249 means that he averaged nearly a goal contribution every game (0.97 per 90).

3 Harry Kane – 259

He might only have three Golden Boots compared to Henry's four, but Tottenham's Kane has been involved in more goals than the Arsenal man in the 21st century.

He is the elite marksman of the modern era, someone who Tottenham can always rely on even when things are not going their way.

During his career at Spurs, he has managed to hit 30 goals twice and has scored more than 25 goals on four occasions.

He is Tottenham’s most important player by quite some way, and it is no surprise to see Bayern Munich interested in signing him.

If he stays in the Premier League and maintains his goalscoring rate though, then he stands a very good chance at retiring as the league’s all-time top scorer.

2 Frank Lampard - 272

Lampard’s numbers never cease to amaze people.

After making his Premier League debut with West Ham, he would sign for Chelsea and become one of the best goalscoring midfielders that the league has ever seen.

He simply had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and with his goals at Manchester City also thrown into the mix, Lampard remains the league’s sixth-highest-ever goalscorer.

And he managed triple-digits for assists too.

Lampard’s tally of 102 is the fourth-highest ever, and there are some absolute beauties in there too. This pass to Didier Drogba still needs explaining…

Harry Redknapp was right when he said that Lampard would go right to the very top. But he does not finish first in this list…

1 Wayne Rooney – 311

That honour goes to United and Everton icon, Rooney. And he is quite some way ahead too.

The Englishman arguably gave people a taste of what was to come with his first Premier League goal, scoring a rocket against Arsenal to end their 30-game unbeaten run in October 2002.

He would become one of the best players in English football while at United, and his output was absolutely outrageous.

During his Premier League career, Rooney recorded 10 or more goal contributions every season, hitting double digits for goals and assists five times.

He ended his playing days with 208 goals, the third highest ever, and 103 assists.