Marcus Rashford leads Europe's top five leagues for goals since World Cup

After Marcus Rashford nodded Manchester United ahead against Leeds United last weekend, it was put to Erik ten Hag that his number ten was the best striker among Europe's elite.

"He's definitely one of them," Ten Hag, a manager that rarely offers public praise, conceded.

Before Rashford rattled the ball past Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the so-called 'Wall of La Liga', Xavi described the 25-year-old as "one of the most dangerous players in Europe".

Yet, after extending his scoring streak with a brace against Leicester on Sunday afternoon, in terms of pure goals, Rashford has been the most dangerous player on the continent of late.

Since the World Cup wrapped up in mid-December, no player in Europe's top five leagues has scored more goals, across all competitions, than Rashford. Manchester United's talisman has bagged an outrageous 16 goals in 17 games.

13 Premier League clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea, have scored fewer goals than Rashford alone since European club football returned following the action in Qatar.

Real Madrid's Karim Benzema is Rashford's closest challenger in terms of goal-scoring individuals. The former France international was originally part of Didier Deschamps Les Bleus' squad but left the camp before the tournament kicked off after picking up an injury during training.

Benzema's agent Karim Djaziri argued that his client had been fit for the majority of the competition but was snubbed by Deschamps. Nevertheless, after announcing his international retirement following the World Cup final, Benzema has scored ten goals for Real Madrid, including one in the final of the Club World Cup.

Erling Haaland is one of four players with nine goals since the resumption of club football. Manchester City's Norwegian goal gobbler didn't qualify for the World Cup in the Middle East but his prodigious scoring rate has declined since the six-week hiatus.

After averaging a goal every 60 minutes during his first four months with City, Haaland has been finding the net every 113 minutes post-World Cup. For comparison, Rashford has been rattling the ball beyond opposition keepers at a rate of one goal every 80 minutes since mid-December.

Unlike Manchester United's Rashford, Alexandre Lacazette has embarked upon a glut of goals as the focal point of a struggling side. Lyon are languishing in the unfamiliar realm of mid-table in Ligue 1 despite the best efforts of their returning captain. Lacazette's haul of nine post-World Cup goals has been swollen by a hat-trick against fifth-tier Chambery SF in the French Cup but the former Arsenal striker has 14 Ligue1 goals this season.

Monaco's Wissam Ben Yedder boasts the same impressive tally - which only three players in the division can better. The perennially underrated striker scored his eighth and ninth post-World Cup goals against Qatar's golden goose as Monaco romped to a 3-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain last weekend.

Victor Osimhen rounds off the list of in-form forwards which Rashford comfortably tops. Serie A's leading scorer has found the net in each of his last seven league games - no Napoli player has enjoyed a longer scoring streak in Italy's top flight in the three-points-for-a-win era (since 1994/95).

Osimhen's rich vein of form has propelled Napoli into a staggering 15-point lead atop the Serie A table with just 15 matches of the season remaining.

Rashford's goals have helped haul Manchester United onto the fringes of the Premier League title race, with the Red Devils just five points behind leaders Arsenal and three off second-placed Manchester City. With the most in-form forward in European football, United can't be ruled out of anything just yet.