The Serbian striker, who has joined Chelsea on a £5m deal, has already told last year's winner Thierry Henry: "I was born to be top scorer."

For the past several years, the top goal scorers in the Premiership have hailed from other countries. Four of the five recent golden boot winners have been foreign players.

Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Dwight Yorke round out the list of foreign talents to capture the trophy since the 1998-1999 season.

French native Henry has claimed the golden boot twice, in 2003-2004 and 2001-2002. Since joining Arsenal in 1999, Henry has scored 150 times in just 251 games.

He became Arsenal's leading scorer in his first season at the club, justifying his £11m price tag. In addition to his golden boot, Henry also collected the PFA and FWA Player of the year awards for two years running.

Between Henry's two golden boots, Manchester United's van Nistelrooy terrorised Premiership defences to take the crown - even after having career-saving knee surgery.

Known as one of the league's top forwards, van Nistelrooy signed with Manchester United for £19 million in 2001.

The Dutch striker scored a record 47 goals in the 2002-2003 season, including international matches. His scoring tactics that year allowed both Manchester United to win the Premiership and van Nistelrooy to capture the golden boot with 25 goals.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who recently completed a move from Chelsea to Middlesbrough, is known for his unmatched goalscoring power from a distance.

Hasselbaink signed a record-breaking £15m deal with Chelsea in 2000, and proved his worth when he won the golden boot for 2000-2001.

Also a former Leeds player, Hasselbaink was the top scorer for two consecutive seasons and led the scoring charts in a three-way tie with Michael Owen and Trinadad and Tobago native Dwight Yorke.

In the past five years, there has only been one home-grown talent to capture the golden boot - Sunderland's Kevin Phillips.

Hitchin-born Phillips scored 30 goals in just 36 games in the 1999-2000 season for Sunderland. The striker now plays for Southampton and remains on top of his game.

With foreign talent dominating the Premiership award's history, the odds for Kezman look good. With 105 goals in 122 appearances in his four years at PSV Eindhoven, Kezman holds the best scoring record in the history of the Dutch club.

The striker looks to be a strong contender for this season's golden boot.

Mateja Kezman Factfile

Year

Club

Apps

Goals

1995/96

FK Zeman

0

0

1996/97

Radnicki Pirot

0

0

1997/98

Loznica

17

9

1997/98

Sartid Smederevo

17

9

1998/99

Partizan Belgrade

22

6

1999/00

Partizan Belgrade

38

28

2000/01

PSV Eindhoven

33

24

2001/02

PSV Eindhoven

27

15

2002/03

PSV Eindhoven

33

35

2003/04

PSV Eindhoven

29

31

2004/05

Chelsea

0

0


Serbia & Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) - 18 matches, 10 goals