Santos striker Gabriel ‘Gabigol" Barbosa has been in very good form this season, which even earned him a call up to the Brazilian senior national team for the Copa América Centenário.
Gabigol, who"s yet to turn 20, has 40 goals as a professional footballer, even without counting the goals during the São Paulo state championships. Globo Esporte compared Gabigol"s statistics with over 150 attackers from several leagues in world football and came to the conclusion that he is the top scorer in world football among players born in 1996. Only the goals during professional championships were taken into consideration. This includes national leagues, cups and continental tournaments, and also matches for the national team. There is of course a remote possibility of someone with more goals than Gabigol in distant countries, where the information is restricted. But still, considering the importance of the analyzed championships, Gabigol"s numbers are extremely relevant.
Gabigol has more goals than some of the highly rated talents from European football like Marcus Rashford [Manchester United], Breel Embolo [Basle], Dele Alli [Tottenham], Youri Tielemans [Anderlecht] Marco Asensio [Real Madrid], Leroy Sané [Schalke], Ousmane Dembélé [Rennes/Borussia Dortmund], Gonçalo Guedes [Benfica] and Kelechi Iheanacho [Manchester City].