After a stellar debut campaign in 2017, Chicago Fire forward Nemanja Nikolic continues to make his case for being mentioned alongside Major League Soccer's elite goal-scorers throughout the years. His 24 goals last season were enough to take home the MLS Golden Boot as well as set the club record for most in a single season, breaking Ante Razov's 17-year-old mark of 18 goals tallied in 2000.
In last Saturday's 2018 home opener, Nikolic picked up right where he left off. The Hungarian international bagged himself a dramatic second half brace and pushed his regular season goal tally within MLS to 26 through his first 35 games played.
As it stands, Nikolic's finishing rate through that amount of matches speaks for itself.
The brace pushed his goals per game average to 0.74 and his goals per 90 minutes to 0.77, both the current highest marks for the Fire all-time.
Check out the table below to see how Nikolic's blistering entrance to the league stacks up across league history.
Most goals scored all-time by players through their first 35 MLS appearances (via Elias):
<strong>RANK</strong> |
<strong>PLAYER</strong> |
<strong>DEBUT SEASON</strong> |
<strong>GOALS</strong> |
1 |
Mamadou Diallo |
2000 |
32 |
Raul Diaz Arce |
1996 |
32 |
|
3 |
Carlos Ruiz |
2002 |
30 |
4 |
Stern John |
1998 |
29 |
5 |
Taylor Twellman |
2002 |
28 |
Roy Lassiter |
1996 |
28 |
|
7 |
<strong>Nemanja Nikolic*</strong> |
2017 |
26 |
8 |
Bradley Wright-Phillips* |
2013 |
25 |
9. |
Sebastian Giovinco* |
2015 |
24 |
10. |
Juan Pablo Angel |
2007 |
23 |
*denotes currently active player
