A Klaas Act

With Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent ruled out, two of the leading picks for first goalscorer have gone. For English Premier League fans, Robin Van Persie (11/2 Bet365) looks an obvious choice in that particular market. I’m not going to be foolish enough to say that he won’t score, particularly with the season he’s having, but there may be a better value selection.

At the longer price of 13/2 (Skybet), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is worthy of our consideration. The Schalke 04 striker isn’t really on the British football fan’s radar so often, but his international return is fantastic. With a record of 30 goals in 48 internationals, he is the prolific forward for Holland. It’s interesting to note that Van Persie, for all his stunning form for Arsenal, has a record of 25 goals in 61 games for his country. A strike rate of 0.41 pales in comparison to Huntelaar’s 0.63.

If we look at 2011 for further guidance we’ll see that Huntelaar is also the man who has been finding the net for the Netherlands in recent times. The former Real Madrid and AC Milan player scored in both of the last two qualifiers for Euro 2012 - the last competitive fixtures. In contrast, Van Persie hasn’t contributed since he bagged four in an 11-0 victory against San Marino six matches ago; pretty much everybody scored that day, including Huntelaar with two more of his own!