Football is a team game and even the most selfish of strikers would probably rather their team won a major trophy than they landed an individual prize. That said, individual honours are something to aim for and, of course, if a player can excel at what they do, there is every chance that in landing their own glory, they will also help the collective achieve their aims too.
In terms of the Premier League perhaps the highest profile individual prize, aside from the various player of the season awards, is for the Golden Boot. Sorry defenders, goalkeepers and creative types, but it’s the goalscorers who get all the glory. The Premier League Golden Boot is given to the striker who scores the most goals in a season.
Unlike some similar honours, there is no tiebreaker when two – or more – players register the same goals tally in a campaign. As such, games or minutes played, assists, or disciplinary record are irrelevant for the purposes of the Golden Boot. It is a straight shootout where all that matters is goals.
So, who has won the Premier League Golden Boot award the most times since it was first awarded in the inaugural PL campaign in 1992/93? Well, this is an Arsenal website, which should give you a clue (and also explains why we aren’t naming the club that inaugural winner, Teddy Sheringham, played for!).
Magical Henry the Most Golden of the Golden Boots
Arsenal players have won this award six times in total but one player accounts for two thirds of those victories. Robin van Persie won it with the Gunners in 2011/12 and then rather annoyingly, and uniquely, won it again the following season, but this time with Man United. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also won it jointly with Liverpool duo Sadio Mane and Mo Salah.
But before all of that there was the magical, mesmeric, magnificent Thierry Henry. And with four wins, the elegant, deadly French forward leads the way in terms of total career Premier League Golden Boots. His record may one day be taken by a certain blonde Viking, assuming Erling Haaland stays at City long enough, but for now at least, Henry tops the pile!
Players With Multiple Golden Boot Wins
The list below shows all players who have won this honour, either solely or jointly, on more than one occasion.
- 4 Wins – Thierry Henry
- 3 Wins – Mo Salah, Harry Kane, Alan Shearer
- 2 Wins – Robin van Persie, Didier Drogba, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Michael Owen
2001/2 – Henry Claims First Win
Thierry Henry was signed by Arsenal in the summer of 1999 by Arsène Wenger, who had managed the player at Monaco. The £11m fee would soon prove a bargain, as Wenger converted the player from a winger into a centre forward, albeit one that would often drift out wide.
He netted 26 goals in all competitions in his first season in north London, including 17 in the league from just 31 games. He matched that Premier League tally in the following campaign but in 2001/02 he took his scoring to another level and bagged 24 goals in 33 games to land his first Golden Boot award and the first by any Arsenal player.
His goals fired the Gunners to the Premier League title and if his £11m fee hadn’t already been paid off, it certainly was after that. Henry was helped in this feat by fellow forward Dennis Bergkamp, who recorded 12 assists, and French midfielder Robert Pires, who topped the creator’s table with a massive 15 assists.
2003/4 – Record Tally for French Maestro
In 2002/03 Henry once again bagged 24 league goals but did not win the Golden Boot, with Man United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy pipping him on 25. This was the era of a fierce Arsenal rivalry with Man United, both between fans, players and the managers, Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson. In 2002/03 Henry was second and so were Arsenal, United winning the league.
However, 12 months after that, in the 2003/04 campaign, Arsenal would do something that no Premier League side has done before or since. The famous Invincibles went the whole campaign undefeated and with Henry on fire up front they won the league.
Henry recorded his highest seasonal tally in the PL, managing a massive 30 goals, eight clear of Shearer in second and 10 more than Van Nistelrooy. His goals came from 37 matches and he added nine more in other competitions to end the campaign with 39, the most he would ever score in a single season for the club.
2004/5 – Henry Does It Again
Henry had only narrowly missed out in 2002/03 but in 2004/05 he would not be denied as he defended his Premier League Golden Boot award. The odd injury meant he only featured 32 times in the league but he still managed to bag 25 goals to top the pile.
He was four clear of Crystal Palace’s Andy Johnson, with his teammate Pires third, well back on 14 goals. Henry was again among the nominated players for the PFA Player’s Player award but having won it in 2002/03 and 2003/04, he was beaten to glory by Chelsea skipper John Terry. The Blues won the title that year, with Arsenal and Henry second.
2005/6 – And Again: Hat-Trick Henry
In 2005/06 Henry was at it again and despite only playing 32 league games once more, he completed a hat-trick of PL Golden Boot wins by banging home 27 goals. He ended the campaign with 33 from just 45 games, a wonderful return from such a magnificent player.
Once again it was United’s Van Nistelrooy in second, this time with 21 goals but the Gunners finished down in fourth, some 24 points adrift of a powerful Chelsea team. The balance of power in the Premier League was changing and Henry knew it. Still a Gunners great, he moved to Barcelona in 2007, having scored 10 goals in 17 games in his final campaign for Arsenal (though he did return briefly on loan in 2011/12).