Comparing Sergio Aguero's goalscoring record

It does feel that we are writing about Sergio Aguero incessantly at the moment but following on from yesterday's look at his impact against Sunderland we're moving on to look at Aguero's wider influence

This is something that shuddertothink posted about on Twitter and I thought worth digging around into a little further. The basic premise is to simply take the first four years (which Aguero will of course complete at the end of the 2014/15 season) of each player and see how many goals they scored.

Some players benefit from arriving and playing their first year in the league when at or around their peak (Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy) whilst others posted lower totals due to age (Wayne Rooney) or were hampered in part through injury (Aguero).

As with most Premier League scoring records Alan Shearer is way out in front. Sometimes, I think we are somewhat guilty of underestimating quite how good his goalscoring record was. The top five is rounded out by Les Ferdinand (perhaps a surprise?), Robbie Fowler, Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

You then have the likes of Ian Wright, Andrew Cole and Matt le Tissier, but in this decade there has only been Fernando Torres (yes, his first four seasons were good) and Luis Suarez. Aguero though will pass both at some point this season and if he scores a further nine goals will crack the top five and overtake van Nistelrooy.

Could Aguero even end the season higher? He needs a further 17, 18 and 20 to reign in Henry, Fowler and Ferdinand respectively. He has 24 games potentially to do it and whilst this would be unlikely his record over the past 25-30 games does suggest it is not beyond him.

As ever with Aguero the concern is injuries and maybe they are always going to be part and parcel of his game. If, as Manuel Pellegrini has suggested, there is a renewed confidence in him this season from a physical standpoint it is not without question he ends the season as the second best in terms of goal tally through a player's first four seasons in the league.

Good luck to anyone ever eclipsing Shearer's total though.