Luka Jovic, Paco Alcacer, Reiss Nelson and Alfred Finnbogason: The clinical band of brothers
Luka Jovic, Paco Alcacer, Reiss Nelson and Alfred Finnbogason have 30 goals between them already this season, and share one other eyewatering stat: so far in the 2018/19 Bundesliga campaign, they have taken — on average — less than 90 minutes to find the back of the net.
Alfred Finnbogason (Augsburg)
With the season of super-subs keeping the goalscoring charts in flux, there are no fewer than nine players in Germany's top flight boasting a goals to games ratio of less than 90 minutes. While the likes of Hendrik Weydandt and Karim Bellarabi deserve due credit, the aforementioned quartet are not just scoring at a feverish rate, but with unprecedented regularity.
bundesliga.com opens up on the men who have some of the best-trained noses for goal in the game.
He got 12 league goals last term, and at his current ratio, he's on course to soundly beat that mark, and then some. But there is that thorny issue of his body and its tendency to betray him.
An adductor problem picked up in the November international break forced him back to Germany early, and makes him a doubt for Saturday's game with Frankfurt. With over a third of their goals coming from their headline striker, Augsburg need Finnbogason's head to be more persuasive…
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Reiss Nelson (Hoffenheim)
After his brace against Stuttgart on Matchday 8, Nelson vowed, "that's just the start, the best is yet to come," and while he has proven as good as his word, helping Hoffenheim to a four-game winning streak in as many games before the November international break, they have helped him — and themselves — by playing him.
“They believe in young players and that’s the main thing," explained the 18-year-old Londoner, whose goal glut has come from just four starts in seven top-flight appearances. "Getting the belief behind you to play football."
Paco Alcacer (Borussia Dortmund)
"It's a release to play, get minutes and enjoy one's job," explained the on-loan Barcelona man, whose limited opportunities at the Camp Nou have played nicely into Dortmund's plans as they reap the huge benefits of Alcacer's productive days at the office.
The sang froid he showed in delicately lifting the ball over Manuel Neuer to decide the Klassiker is also displayed starkly with his goals/shots ratio of 1.8 — gulp! — and he needs just over ten touches of the ball for every single strike. He's made only two starts so far, so you have to wonder what will happen when he begins to feature regularly in the starting line-up…
Luka Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Unlike the other three men here, he has also contributed assists to a further two goals, putting him — along with his rock-solid 5'11" physique — in the sort of 'master of all trades' mould that Bayern Munich's perennial goalgetter Robert Lewandowski was cast from.
It is a comparison that is still premature, but not one that will look ridiculous in seasons to come, according to Hütter himself: "He has the potential to become a world-class striker."