Alan Shearer is widely heralded as one of the best players to have ever graced the Premier League.
Being the league’s all-time top goalscorer with 260 goals to his name, the Newcastle United icon is mentioned alongside the greatest stars to have ever played in the English top-flight — which includes Manchester City legends such as Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
As outstanding a striker as Alan Shearer was, the debate surrounding superior players is one that will always be subjective.
Erling Haaland, who Shearer himself admires is a player who could be considered a better forward by many if he manages to break the Englishman’s longstanding Premier League goal record.
Chris Wood says Kevin De Bruyne is better than Alan Shearer
Being a number nine himself, Chris Wood is a big fan of the retired striker.
Much like Shearer, the Nottingham Forest marksman is also a target man who is renowned for bullying defenders and scoring a variety of goals.
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However, speaking to SPORT Bible, Wood admitted that despite his admiration for Alan Shearer, he considers De Bruyne a better player than him.
Kevin De Bruyne of Napoli smiling during a press conference
Photo by Antonio Balasco/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images
“Oh gosh, that is one of the hardest questions. I’m torn between Alan Shearer as a striker and Kevin De Bruyne, I’m going to go with Kevin.”
Kevin De Bruyne stats compared to Alan Shearer in the Premier League
Ultimately, De Bruyne and Shearer have a case for being the best midfielder and striker in Premier League history respectively — which is why Wood had a hard choice to make between the two legends.
Both players’ numbers emphasise their greatness in English football.
PREMIER LEAGUE STATS MATCHES GOALS ASSISTS
ALAN SHEARER 441 260 64
KEVIN DE BRUYNE 288 72 119
Unsurprisingly, Shearer has more goal contributions (324) than De Bruyne (191) as the former was a striker and he played 153 more games than the former Manchester City and Napoli virtuoso.
However, goal involvements are not the only way to judge players, as Wood’s preference for the Belgian suggests.