beardinho

After reading @beardedgenius endlessly gush about Welbeck this morning and the subsequent comments that followed, I decided to do some research to see how other goal scorers compared after a similar number of appearances for their first clubs/s and country.

Before I go any further I like Danny Welbeck, he's a very clever footballer with a great work ethic and I believe his goal scoring record will improve considerably with age, he has all the attributes in my opinion (the only caveat being he needs to be played up-front).  

Bar a few obvious names Owen, Fowler etc it's actually quite unusual for a striker to be scoring consistently at a young age with many peaking between 24-30, maybe even later. 

So how do the stats compare? I've taken strikers who have gone on to score on a far more regular basis later in their career, compared to early years, with a focus on those doing so in the EPL:

Danny Welbeck - 15 in first 75 games for United. 8 in first 20 caps for England. 

Wayne Rooney - 17 in first 77 games for Everton. 9 in first 20 for England. 

Alan Shearer - 43 in 158 games for Southampton. 5 in first 21 for England.

Didier Drogba - 15 in first 72 games for Le Mans. 17 in 23 for Ivory Coast.

Thierry Henry - 28 in first 141 for Monaco. 8 in first 25 for France.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - 5 in first 50 for Telestar and AZ. 9 in 23 total for Holland.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy - 20 in first 71 for Den Bosch. 9 in 21 for Holland.

Fernando Torres - 22 in first 74 for Atletico Madrid. 9 in first 26 for Spain.

Robin Van Persie - 22 in first 78 for Feyenoord. 7 in first 21 for Holland.

I expect to see a lot more of this in the future: