There are six premier options when it comes to Dream Team Euros strikers.
This half dozen make up the Golden Boot favourites and four of them are among the top ten most-popular players at this stage of our summery fantasy football game.
Here we attempt to do the impossible by ranking the big six: Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and Romelu Lukaku.
We’ve based our ranking on potential value-for-money, how favourable their fixtures seem, previous tournament performances, their nation’s chances at Euro 2020, and current form.
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6. Robert Lewandowski
- Country: Poland
- Dream Team Euros price: £6.0m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 18.2%
- Group opponents: Spain, Sweden, Slovakia
If we limited our criteria to club form alone then the Polish No9 would top of the lot.
Lewandowski broke Gerd Muller’s long-standing record for most goals in a Bundesliga campaign when he scored his 41st league goal in the last minute of Bayern Munich’s final game of the season.
The primary reason for leaving the 32-year-old out of your Dream Team Euros forward line is that he is the only striker in the highest price bracket who doesn’t represent a team in with a decent chance of lifting the trophy come July 11th – Poland are outsiders by their own admission.
The European Golden Shoe winner has an excellent record in international football with 66 goals in 118 caps but he’s never really excelled at a major tournament.
It’s worth repeating that just because he’s last on this list, doesn’t mean he’s a player to avoid – the man is a goal machine.
5. Karim Benzema
- Country: France
- Dream Team Euros price: £6.0m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 3.4%
- Group opponents: Germany, Portugal, Hungary
The Real Madrid legend’s return to international football is one of the stories of summer but five years away from the French set-up makes him something of an unknown entity when it comes to Dream Team Euros.
Benzema has been prolific at club level since Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus and his presence will give Les Bleus even more firepower but he’ll participate in the Group of Death – a factor that counts against him in this ranking.
His low ownership is mostly due to the fact he was added later than the others – as his call-up was a late surprise – expect his popularity to increase steeply as the tournament gets closer.
4. Kylian Mbappe
- Country: France
- Dream Team Euros price: £7.5m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 57.4%
- Group opponents: Germany, Portugal, Hungary
As the outright most-expensive player in the game we have to take into account the damage the wonderkid’s selection does to one’s budget.
Evidently his price tag hasn’t been much of a deterrent so far with a massive 57.4% of bosses backing Mbappe to continue his legacy creation.
At 22 years old he’s already got a major tournament success and a World Cup final goal in his locker so there’s no reason to conclude he’ll have any issues translating his club form to the international stage this summer.
Mbappe is getting closer and closer to dethroning Ronaldo and/or Lionel Messi on world football’s throne and a second successive international triumph may well trigger his coronation.
As with Benzema, he’s lost a place or two in the ranking because of his relatively difficult fixtures – might he have to share the goals with the returning striker and Antoine Griezmann?
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3. Cristiano Ronaldo
- Country: Portugal
- Dream Team Euros price: £7.0m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 39.5%
- Group opponents: Germany, France, Hungary
In many ways, the reigning European champions are a better side now than when they lifted the trophy in 2016.
The emergence of Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Bruno Fernandes in recent years has given Fernando Santos luxurious depth but the 36-year-old five-time Ballon d’Or winner remains the main man.
The irrepressible Ronaldo is the second-top scorer in the long history of international football with 103 goals to his name.
Intimidatingly for his opponents, Ronaldo’s scoring rate for Portugal has risen sharply since turning 30.
As a big-game player and the tournament’s most prestigious player, the Group of Death is unlikely to faze him.
2. Harry Kane
- Country: England
- Dream Team Euros price: £7.0m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 64.7%
- Group opponents: Croatia, Czech Republic, Scotland
Fitness is a constant concern and there’s chance the uncertainty around his club future may become a distraction but England’s captain ticks so many boxes for Dream Team Euros gaffers.
He just finished the Premier League season as the division’s top scorer and top assist-provider to add to the Golden Boot he won at the last major international tournament.
The Three Lions will be favourites to top Group D and with Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and several other creative sources feeding him, Kane could feast once more.
34 goals in 53 international caps does a lot of the talking.
1. Romelu Lukaku
- Country: Belgium
- Dream Team Euros price: £6.0m
- Dream Team Euros ownership: 41.7%
- Group opponents: Denmark, Finland, Russia
Belgium’s hulking centre-forward takes top spot as there’s seemingly no downsides to his selection.
Roberto Mancini’s side arguably have the most favourable group and at £6.0m Lukaku is enticingly cheaper than Kane, Ronaldo and Mbappe.
The 28-year-old is in his prime and was rightfully named Serie A’s best player of 2020/21 after contributing 24 goals and 11 assists to Inter’s first league crown since 2011.
His record of 59 goals in 91 caps becomes even more impressed when you analyse just the most recent segment of his career – he’s scored 48 goals in his last 49 games for Belgium.
And if that’s not enough to convince you, bear in mind he’ll have Kevin De Bruyne supplying him at Euro 2020…
