Player Duels: Alan Shearer v. Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Barney Corkhill's Player Duels is back for another edition! In this series I pit two players against each other, and ask the readers who was better! To vote, simply leave a comment!

Today's duel is between two of the best strikers to have ever graced the Premier League—Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Shearer is one of the best strikers in English football history, and stayed at the top for a number of years, while Ruud van Nistelrooy was one of the most natural goalscorers ever to play in England, and was incredibly prolific.

Alan Shearer

His goal-scoring exploits in the Premier League are unmatched. He is the biggest legend in the history of Newcastle FC, and has been repeatedly linked with a return to St James' Park as manager.

In his career, he scored 374 goals in 725 games, including 260 in the Premier League, making him the top scorer in the league's history. At international level he was similarly successful, scoring 30 goals in 63 caps.

He was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, FWA Player of the Year once, and jointly holds the record for amount of goals in both a 42 game season and a 38 game season.

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Simply a fantastic goalscorer. If a striker's job is to solely score goals, there are fewer better than van Nistelrooy. He rarely scored from outside the box, but was and still is deadly from inside.

His current career stats are 309 goals in 486 games, including 149 while at Manchester United, scoring 95 goals in 150 Premier League games. For Holland he has scored 33 goals in 64 games.

He is the third highest scorer in Champions League history, and won PFA Player of the Year and Barclaycard Player of the Year during his time at United.

So, ladies and gentlemen, what are you going to go for—the reliability of Alan Shearer or the prolific scoring of van Nistelrooy? Leave a comment to vote!

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