Believe it or not, we are only 26 days away from the start of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign. Reigning champions Liverpool will open the season at home against Bournemouth and look to start their campaign off with a win. Until then, there are some futures markets for the upcoming season that have caught my attention on DraftKings Sportsbook, the first being the race for the 2025/26 Golden Boot.
Erling Haaland (+120)
As boring as it is, I am going to have to go with the favorite, Erling Haaland here. There is a reason why his odds are so low, and I am backing him to win his third Golden Boot. Haaland finished as the top goalscorer in the division in his first two seasons at Man City, but an injury-plagued season cost him top spot to Mohamed Salah last campaign. He finished third in the division with 22 goals, but missed seven games due to injury. 22 goals in 31 games is still more than respectable, even if it was statistically his worst year in England.
Down years for Haaland are career years for other strikers. If you go back to his days at Borussia Dortmund, he has now bagged at least 22 league goals in five consecutive seasons. At only 24 years old, I am not quite sure he has even hit his prime yet, although it sure feels like he has due to his performances in recent seasons. His 36 Premier League goals in the 2022/23 season remains the all-time record. Barring injury or suspensions, I think Haaland will be hard to beat this year.
The Golden Boot winner will likely come from one of the three best teams in the country, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City. For Mohamed Salah to score 29 league goals as a winger is incredible, but I think he will have a hard time keeping that up, especially with the entrance of a big-time player at center forward. On Sunday, it was announced that Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike is set to join Liverpool, which could signal fewer goals for Salah in 2025/26, but possibly more assists. With Arsenal yet to nail down a striker and Liverpool splitting the goals between Ekitike and Salah, Haaland emerges as the clear favorite to score the most goals. Even if Arsenal get the rumored signing of Sporting Lisbon forward Viktor Gyökeres over the line, Haaland remains the man to beat.
Man City should be even better than last season with the reinforcements in the transfer window such as Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki. The return of Rodri won’t hurt either. That should mean more chances and more goals for their talisman. Haaland is averaging 28.3 goals per season in the Premier League, and if he hangs around that average next season, it’s hard to imagine anyone catching him.
