Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record has remained untroubled since he hung up his boots in 2006 – and the striker believes he would be even more prolific if he were playing today.
The former England centre-forward bagged 260 goals across his spells at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, winning the division’s Golden Boot three times along the way…and that’s to say nothing of his additional efforts for Southampton before the Premier League began in 1992.
Even players as iconic as Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero have fallen short of Shearer, who nonetheless ranks only at No.2 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Premier League strikers of all time, behind Thierry Henry.
Alan Shearer: I would be even more prolific if I were playing today
Speaking to Betfair, Shearer said: “When I was playing I had three serious injuries, whether that was because of the number of games, the pitches weren’t as great or whatever. I’ll never know.
“Nowadays, the sports science is better, the pitches are much better, you’re not getting whacked as much in terms of tackles like players were 20 years ago as the game has changed.”
That leaves Shearer in two minds about whether or not he actually would have been a better fit in the modern era, noting that advances in sports science and tighter refereeing is arguably balanced out by the increased workload on modern players.
Numerous managers and players’ groups have called for a reduction in the ever-increasing schedule, which is still being added to in the form of an expanded Champions League, new-look Club World Cup, and larger formats for the World Cup and Euros.
Some managers believe that is having a harmful effect on players’ availability – and Shearer fears his body would not have stood up to it well.
Shearer went on: “Judging by my injury record when I was playing, I probably wouldn’t have fared too well with the number of games that there are now.”
However, Shearer still believes that if he had his time again he could improve yet further on his record-setting exploits, saying: “I think I’d have scored more goals just because of the quality of the game, the pitches and the defenders aren’t really allowed to tackle anymore like they were long before my time.
“I’d fancy my chances to have scored more goals than I already did.”
