Serie A season start 2021/2022 tomorrow - who will be the seasons top scorer?

Italy as a football country had a fantastic summer when they won gold in the European Championship 2020 (2021). They did it by playing a very attractive and offensive football that charmed a whole football world, not at all the usual defensive (but oh so effective) Italy we are used to seeing. Tomorrow Saturday, it's time for the Italian football everyday life to start again when Serie A kicks off their 2021/2022 season. Among all games on the first day we will see the reigning champions Inter play at home against Genoa and the nowadays very interesting and much appreciated team Atalanta play away against Torino.

In this article, however, we will focus on who will be the top scorer in the 2021/2022 season. Juventus last season was not as to their expectations, but despite this, Cristiano Ronaldo won his first "Capocannoniere" title (the Italian name for Golden Boot title in Serie A) in Italy with his 29 goals scored, 5 goals ahead of Romelu Lukaku who this season has left Inter for Chelsea. The question is who can win the "Capocannoniere" this season, we list our top 15 candidates below.

15 candidates to become Serie A top scorers

Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus

The first to be mentioned must of course be the best football goal scorer ever, Cristiano Ronaldo. Sure, Ronaldo is 36 years old now and will turn 37 during the season (in February) but he is known for staying in shape and has had very few more serious injuries during his career. He will for sure be among the top 3 in the top scorer list despite rising age.

Álvaro Morata, Juventus

Ronaldo's teammate Álvaro Morata is known in the Spanish national team for wasting too many goal chances. The fact is that he also does that at a team level, had he been a more efficient goal scorer he would have won several Golden Boot titles over the years. But he is a player who is very good at being in the right place at the right time and if he can only increase his efficiency in the goal area, he will be a candidate to win.

Ciro Immobile, Lazio

Like Morata, Ciro Immobile is very much questioned in the national team for missing too many goal chances, but unlike Morata, Immobile does deliver in the club team. He has won the "Capocannoniere" in Serie A three times before and scored an impressing 36 goals for his Lazio in the 2019/2020 season. Lazio is not a team that will win the league but is always fighting for the Champions League places, and we can trust that Ciro Immobile will make a high number of goals this season as well.

Edin Dzeko, Inter

When champions Inter lost Romelo Lukaku to Chelsea, they were quick to buy Edin Dzeko from Roma as a replacement. Dzeko is a dreaded old goal scorer (he has now reached the age of 35) who did win the top scorer title in Serie A 2016/2017. In Roma, it is doubtful if he would have been a candidate for the title this season, but with better players around him at Inter, he can very well score 20+ goals, which can be enough for the goal scoring title.

Lautaro Martinez, Inter

Inter's Argentine Lautaro Martinez is only 23 years old and has had the eyes of many clubs on him during this transfer window. With Lukaku away, Inter will most likely keep him though, and it feels like this could be his season. He scored 17 goals last season and the feeling is that he can very well increase that amount this season.

Luis Muriel, Atalanta

Colombian Luis Muriel was not really a great goal scorer before he came to Atalanta but in Bergamo he has really hit the spot. Scoring 22 goals last season gave him a third place in the top scorer list, and he scored 18 goals the season before that. If Atalanta can continue to play their positive attacking football and keep on winning, Muriel can very well score 20+ goals this season as well.

Duvan Zapata, Atalanta

Atalanta's other Colombian striker is Duvan Zapata and he is also a very consistent goal scorer. He "only" scored 15 goals last season but the seasons before that he scored 18 and 23 goals. Zapata has turned 30 now but it feels like he has so many more goals in him, and this might turn out to be the season he really delivers.

Dusan Vlahovic, Fiorentina

21-year-old Serb Dusan Vlahovic took Serie A by storm last season when he slammed 21 balls into the net and went from being a great talent to hot quarry for many clubs during the summer transfer window. There are many clubs that are still interested in recruiting him but the best thing for him would probably be to stay in Fiorentina and continue to develop for at least one more season. The coming season will show if last season was a stroke of luck or if he will be tagged one of the most interesting young strikers in the world.

Tammy Abraham, Roma

Tammy Abraham was brought in by Roma this week from Chelsea and it will be very interesting to follow this talent in Serie A. Many strikers need consistent playing time to really flourish and in Chelsea Abraham was predominantly a rotating player. If he gets full confidence in Roma by Mourino and gets to play every match, things can really loose up for him and we could see 20+ goals from this guy already this season.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan

The Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic turns 40 in October and it's really amazing that he's still can deliver goals at the very highest level in football. Unfortunately his age is really taking a toll on him and despite being in great shape for his age, injuries are coming more often now. If he, against all odds, were to stay relatively healthy for an entire season, he would very well be a candidate to be the top scorer this season, despite his age.

Olivier Giroud, Milan

Another old striker, who is new to Milan this season, is the Frenchman Olivier Giroud. He has now turned 34 years old but he is still a very good football player and will certainly be useful for Milan. If he can score enough goals to fight for the title of top scorer? Probably not, but a new environment for an experienced player can do wonders so we'll see.

Lorenzo Insigne, Napoli

Napoli as a team feels a bit on the decline unfortunately. In recent seasons, they have not been close to challenging for the league title and many of the key players have played in Napoli for an eternity in Naples and are aging. However, Lorenzo Insigne was brilliant in this summer's European Championship and actually scored 19 goals last Serie A season. The feeling is that the little virtuoso is better than ever and it would not be surprising if he for the first time in his career reaches above 20 scored goals in one season.

Andrea Belotti, Torino

Andrea Belotti continues to be faithful to the small club Torino. He is a regular national team player and has scored 10 goals or more six seasons in a row in Serie A, so it is strange that he has not been picked up by any of the bigger clubs. Belotti's success as a top scorer this season depends a lot on how Torino's season will be. If they have a successful season and fight in the top half of the table, Belotti can also become the top scorer, even though he plays in a smaller club.

Domenico Berardi, Sassuolo

If it is strange that no club recruited Belotti, it is perhaps even more strange with Domenico Berardi. Berardi is also a Italian national team regular and is staying loyal to the small club Sassuolo, despite being a consistent goal scorer in Serie A. Among other things he scored 17 goals last season. In a big Italian club, he would almost certainly be able to score 20+ goals per season, but in Sassuolo he will probably have to settle for around 15 goals this season as well.

Marko Arnautovic, Bologna

If you were to ask Marko Arnautovic himself, he would probably say that he is the favorite to win the "Capocannoniere" as this Austrian is known for his great self-confidence and (over)belief in himself. He is new in Bologna this season, most recently playing for Chinese Shanghai Port. Arnautovic is for sure a great striker but rarely reaches the goal scoring levels he probably has in him. But Bologna has a young team packed with talented players and perhaps the combination with Arnautovic's routine can make both Bologna and Arnautovic reach new heights this season.

Who will win the top scorer title in Serie A 2021/2022?

The transfer window is still open and a lot can still happen, but we have to base our tip on what the situation looks like right now. There are plenty of candidates to win the Italiean "Capocannoniere" this season, but there is of course one obvious favorite - Cristiano Ronaldo. We also choose the boring path here and tip Ronaldo as the likely winner. If he has a normal season and he is motivated to play for Juventus, he is the logical obvious choice.

However, we also want to give an additional chance tip, in case Ronaldo does not deliver as expected, and it is for Inter's Lautaro Martinez. The champions Inter have rotated a lot in the team with many players out (with losses such as Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and Matteo Politano) but also with many new interesting players in (such as the Dutchman Denzel Dumfries, Edin Dzeko and Hakan Çalhanoglu). Inter were worthy champions last year and if only Martinez can shoulder the role as the replacement of Lukaku, we believe in successes for both Inter and Lautaro Martinez, which could lead all the way to the become the best goal scorer in Serie A 2021/2022.