ANYTIME GOALSCORER genius Gavin Horsfall (@GHorsfall) has scoured the Euro 2016 markets to bring you a selection of the best value Top Team Goalscorer bets this summer.
Albania
Albania are as short as 8/15 to finish bottom of Group A and rightly so you might think – they qualified second in the only qualifying group of five to reach the finals, only winning one of their last four.
Hosts France and Switzerland are a short price to fill the first two spots in the group whilst Romania make up the quartet after conceding just two en-route to France. No surprise then to see ‘No Goalscorer’ head our favoured market.
At 14/1 in a market where one goal might win it, Emir Lenjani (14/1 bet365) makes the most appeal.
The livewire full-back has been in and out of the Nantes side this year operating either at full-back or left midfield but his performances for the national side gives us plenty of hope. One goal in qualifying against Denmark, Lenjani has followed that up with two in three in recent friendlies.
Head coach Gianni De Biasi is a big fan of the 4-1-4-1 and we can look for Lenjani to get up and support the one (perhaps Sokol Cikalleshi or Armando Sadiku) from wide left.
Croatia
There’s every chance Croatia go deep in the tournament and look the pick of value outsiders for me, boasting the pick of midfields that will turn up in France.
Mario Mandzukic is as short as 6/4 in places but scored just once in eight games in qualifying in a side that shares goals around – 10 different scorers in a campaign that saw the Blazers chase Italy home.
Ante Casic deployed a 4-2-3-1 more often than not in qualifying so plenty of contributions are expected from a midfield, where you make a case for a few.
Marcelo Brozovic (16/1 Bet365) is one of those but pick of the bunch is his Inter team mate Ivan Perisic (6/1 BetVictor) who top-scored in qualifying with six goals amongst the nine in 28 starts he notched in Serie A.
The 27-year old is fascinatingly streaky with four goals in five in October, and five in five in March (six in eight and four in seven last season) so a good start could see him as a catalyst for all the good things Croatia might do this summer.
A 200/1 (Bet365) poke for tournament Top Goalscorer looks amongst the value in outrights.
Hungary
Turns out finishing third in a weak qualifying group, a couple of one-goal victories over the Faroe Islands and failing to beat Greece home and away is enough to earn you quotes of 500/1 to win a European Championship.
Things look tough for Hungary – even in a competitive Group F – but they might just have a livewire opportunist in Laszlo Kleinhauser (16/1, BetVictor).
The 22-year-old only made his debut in the 1-0 play-off win in Norway but he duly scored a pearler and has been full of shots-on-goal in the handful of games for Werder Bremen.
Adam Nagy (Ferencvaros) and Kleinhauser look the future of Hungarian football – head coach Bernd Storck will be hoping their time comes sooner rather than later.
Sweden
Trying to find an angle against one of the short-priced forwards in Robert Lewandowski (Poland) and Zlata Ibrahimovic (Sweden) looks a thankless task.
Value looks slightly harder to come by for Poland, who should score plenty. So perhaps there’s more mileage in opposing Zlatan, who’ll take plenty of attention from Italian and Belgium defences, in what looks a tough group for the Swedes.
Emil Forsberg (33/1 Bet365) scored 13 goals in Malmo’s title winning season last year to earn a move to RB Leipzig – eight goals in 30 starts for the German second tier outfit continues that good form.
There’s some competition for his wide left position but he started six of the last eight qualifiers he was available for, scoring in the 2-1 win against Denmark and looked impressive to me after catching the first half of the Slovenia friendly last weekend.
Not afraid to run with the ball, Forsberg takes up plenty of central positions and isn’t afraid of getting a shot off.
There’s lots of good young talent in this tournament and in most cases it’s tough to find an angle to profit from them, at the prices, this looks as good an opportunity as any.
Turkey
Turkey v Croatia on the first Sunday looks intriguing and will go a long way towards seeing who emerges from Group D.
Hakan Calhanoglu (9/1 Bet365) was in the right place at the right time in the recent defeat to England at Wembley and I like the price of him proving Turkey’s key contributor over the next month.
There won’t be many better dead-ball specialists in France this month – six from free-kicks for Leverkusen this season took his tally to eight for the year including a handful in the Champions League and a solitary goal in qualifying for Fatih Terim’s team.
The 22-year old is on penalty duty in the Bundesliga but will probably be down the pecking order for his country which is a shame, but he undoubtedly carries a threat from open play and could well be the difference in another tight group.
Romania
Romania might just see three 0-0 draws as a result and wait and see if three points is enough in Group A.
If they are to trouble the scorers then Nicolae Stanciu (6/1 Bet365) should go close.
You won’t miss him, he’ll camp himself on the 18-yard line for every attacking move Romania muster with the Steaua Bucharest man grabbing 12 goals in 28 appearances this season.
Of course, Romania have been known to unearth a decent number 10 in their time…
Iceland
Arnor Traustason (20/1 Bet365) may have to wait his turn for Iceland but I’ve been impressed by his runs from deep for IFK Norrkoping, where he scored eight in 30 appearances.
He has three in six for his country operating on the left.
Plenty to keep us occupied then over the next month. Matches come thick and fast but I’ll cobble together some Anytime thoughts as we go along.
Be lucky.
TOPICS Euro 2016 European Football International Football TipsBest Bets
Euro 2016: Top Albania Goalscorer – Emir Lenjani (14/1 Bet365)
Euro 2016: Top Croatia Goalscorer – Ivan Perisic (6/1 BetVictor)
Euro 2016: Top Hungary Goalscorer – Laszlo Kleinhauser (16/1, BetVictor)
Euro 2016: Top Sweden Goalscorer – Emil Forsberg (33/1 Bet365)
Euro 2016: Top Turkey Goalscorer – Hakan Calhanoglu (9/1 Bet365)
Euro 2016: Top Romania Goalscorer – Nicolae Stanciu (6/1 Bet365)
Euro 2016: Top Iceland Goalscorer – Arnor Traustason (20/1 Bet365)
Euro 2016: Top Goalscorer – Ivan Perisic (200/1 Bet365)
