Gonzalo Higuain: Biggest Hero in World Football for April

In drastic contrast to a forgettable month of March, Italian giants Napoli have picked up form tremendously in April and have Gonzalo Higuain to thank for a great deal of that improvement.

The Argentina striker wins our nomination as April's biggest hero in world football, having led Rafa Benitez's side to a record of four wins, two losses and one draw in the past four weeks, and hitting peak form at just the right time in his campaign.

Salvatore Laporta/Associated Press

Napoli were handed a dreadfully daunting match schedule for the month of April and have been among the most active teams in the world of late, efficiently dividing attention between Serie A and Europa League commitments.

Guiding his team to the semi-finals of the European tournament will go down as a particular highlight for Higuain, with OptaFranz pointing out the forward's habit of enjoying team-wide success when he's on the scoresheet:

Higuain has scored three goals in his six April outings thus far, but it's actually his provisional technique that's shone brightest, supplying an assist in each of his last five matches.

In fact, the only matches this month in which the South American failed to play a direct hand in a goal came with the 1-0 defeats to Roma and Lazio, which also happened to be the club's first two fixtures of the month.

Salvatore Laporta/Associated Press

Since then, however, it's been nothing but success for Higuain and Napoli as a whole, beating Wolfsburg 6-3 over two legs to reach the Europa League's final four and rising back to fourth in Serie A, with second spot in their sights.

His migration to Italian football is certainly coming along smoothly, with David Amoyal of GianlucaDiMarzio.com also noting that this month marked Higuain's pushing past his scoring total of 2013-14:

Most recently, the 26-year-old notched two goals and one assist in Napoli's 4-2 triumph over Sampdoria, a perfect demonstration of how one particular player can be so critical to a team's cause.

Wolfsburg were no easy quarter-final opponents, either, but again Higuain's input was pivotal in clinching a 4-1 victory at the Volkswagen Arena in the first leg, helping him to become the highest scorer still left in the contest:

Benitez will be more pleased than any to see his talisman bearing such fruit, having endured a three-match run without even a goal in sight during the latter half of March, when Napoli failed to win a single game.

One would be understanding if Napoli's hefty workload resulted in a drop in form from Higuain, but the impact has been exactly the inverse of that with his influence in front of the goal scorching off the charts instead.

The aforementioned sour patch threatened to deter Higuain and should his head have dropped, that could have been Napoli's hope of a top-four Serie A finish in danger.

As FourFourTwo's Adam Digby attested, the player does have a Jekyll and Hyde feature about him, but it's fortunate for all in Naples that his more likable half has been most prominent in April:

"

Icardi is absolutely money in front of goal. Second or third best striker in Serie A for me depending on Higuain's mood

— Adam Digby (@Adz77) April 25, 2015"

Chelsea's Eden Hazard is another whose April has been truly outstanding, effectively helping Chelsea to seal the Premier League title and claiming this season's PFA Player of the Year award.

However, if one were to analyse a player's individual cause in lifting his club and the fortunes of those around him, it's Higuain whom one could say has assuredly accomplished more, especially given his workload.

One would be hard-pressed to find a player who has not only played more minutes than the 541 Higuain has in April, per WhoScored.com, but also thrived upon that kind of playing time so well.