With Gonzalo Higuain announcing his retirement from international football, I thought that this would be the best time to remember the best forwards that the La Albiceleste have ever produced.
Gonzalo Higuain (75 caps with 31 goals scored)
Believe it or not, the Chelsea striker is one of the best forwards that the country has ever produced. With the team always having top talent in front, Higuain had to work extremely hard in order to get a place ahead of plenty of other stars.
Whilst he is most famous for celebrating his offside goal in the FIFA World Cup final of 2014, Higuain has managed to consistently score crucial goals for Argentina, with him scoring in every year that he has appeared for the team, up until 2017 and 2018, when his chances leading the attack decreased heavily with the unsettling state that the national team was in, barely managing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they also endured a torrid time.
Hernan Crespo (64 caps with 35 goals scored)
The second striker on my list is none other than the Serie A legend, Hernan Crespo. The striker played most of his career in Italy, with his outrageous goalscoring record earning him 64 caps between 1995 and 2007, making his debut with the national team at the young age of 20.
Unfortunately for Crespo, he played in a time where the national team that was still in transition, often failing to get past the quarter-finals in the FIFA World Cup, despite him having a decent record in the competition, scoring four goals in eight games across the three World Cups that he played in. He did however end up being the strike partner for the next player in this list...
Gabriel Batistuta (77 caps with 54 goals scored)
Considered by many as the most natural goalscorer of all-time, Batistuta destroyed other teams in the Serie A during his playing career, scoring 168 goals in 269 league matches for Fiorentina, the team which he played for the most.
Apart from performing wonderfully at club-level, Batistuta also put in excellent performances for the national team, with his sublime goalscoring record putting him second in the all-time Argentine top scorers. To put this into perspective, Batistuta averaged 0.7 goals every match, whilst Higuain, averaged only 0.41. Batistuta's best year was 1998, scoring 12 goals in 12 matches for Argentina, which also got him the Argentine Player of the Year award, along with being named in the FIFA XI.
Luis Artime (25 caps with 24 goals scored)
Probably the least known player in the list, Artime, played in the 60s and 70s, where he was considered as one of the best strikers in South America, scoring plenty of goals in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, with his record in the latter being 65 goals scored in 66 appearances for Nacional, where he won the Primera Division Uruguaya three times, along with the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.
His form in South America eventually resulted in him getting called up to Argentina's national team, where he was known as one of the most prolific players in the game, averaging 0.96 of a goal every game, which is still to this day, the best record of any of the top ten goalscorers of the nation.
Diego Maradona (91 caps with 34 goals scored)
How can we have a list about Argentina without mentioning El Pelusa? The legendary player is the first attacking midfielder in the list, with all of the others being natural strikers. However, Maradona's presence was definitely the most to be felt in the national team, guiding his nation to the famous FIFA World Cup win in 1986, lifting the trophy himself as he captained the side to winning the title.
Whilst he was extremely controversial during his playing career, Maradona scored crucial goals and won titles everywhere he was, most notably helping Napoli to their only two Serie A titles, being their all-time top scorer from 1991 up until 2017.
Lionel Messi (129 caps with 65 goals scored)
Last but not least, it is none other than Lionel Messi. There are not many words that are capable of describing what the little Argentine has done throughout his football career, as his record with Barcelona of scoring 591 goals in 674 appearances in all competitions, practically speaks for itself. He is thought by many to be the greatest football player of all-time, surpassing the likes of Pele and fellow compatriot Maradona, and this sublime record speaks for itself.
Whilst he has consistently put in extraordinary performances for Barcelona, winning a number of trophies that one can only dream about, his time with Argentina has been drastically different. For all the trophies that he has won with Barcelona, Messi is yet to win a trophy with his national side, finishing as runner-up in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, whilst also ending up as runner-up in the Copa America on three occasions, 2007, 2015 and 2016. However, he is Argentina's all-time top scorer, and he has won five Ballon d'Or titles in the process, so a title with Argentina will be the final seal in putting himself solely as the greatest of all-time.
Who do you think will become the next great player for Argentina?
