Cameron Archer’s Stunning Start Under the Microscope
What a start for Cameron Archer! Having joined AJ Auxerre at the end of the summer transfer window, the English striker scored again on Sunday, away at Rennes (4-1). Cameron Archer has yet to play a Ligue 1 McDonald’s match without finding the net, scoring in each of his first 4 games in the French championship. This earns him back the Top Scorer badge.
After scoring against OL, Nice and Brest, Archer found the net against Rennes. The 24-year-old became the 8th player to score in each of his first 4 Ligue 1 McDonald’s matches since 1947/1948. The feat was last achieved in early 2024 by Lorient striker Mohamed Bamba. Before that, you have to go back to the 1973/1974 season ! The list includes names such as Josip Skoblar and Salif Keita, but curiously, none of these 8 players finished their first season as top scorer…
A sharp finisher
The league’s current top scorer, Cameron Archer has 4 goals, like Ferran Torres (PSG), Paris Brunner (Monaco), Kamory Doumbia (SB29), Amine Gouiri (OM), Estéban Lepaul (Rennes), Louis Mafouta (Le Mans), Casper Tengstedt (Toulouse) and Lassine Sinayoko (PFC). Cameron Archer is ahead on the tiebreakers and, above all, he is the one who needed the fewest shots to score his 4 goals. He has taken only 9 shots, compared with 11 for Ferran Torres and 13 or more for the others. Of his 9 shots, 6 were on target.
An Archer dependency for AJA ?
Cameron Archer is one of 3 players who account for 50% of their team’s goals. He has scored 4 of AJ Auxerre’s 8 goals, identical figures to Lassine Sinayoko with Paris FC. Next, Ally Samatta has scored 2 of HAC’s 4 goals. If we also take assists into account, only 4 players have been more directly involved in their team’s goals. Just ahead of Lassine Sinayoko, Florian Thauvin is involved in 64% of RC Lens’s goals.
Soon in the history books of AJA strikers ?
And in AJA’s history, how far can Cameron Archer go ? The player who scored the most goals in his first season in Burgundy is Kalman Kovacs, a former Hungarian international. He scored 18 times in 1989/1990. Behind him come the Pole Andrzej Szarmach, with 16 goals in his first season, then Belgian attacking midfielder Enzo Scifo with 11 goals. Gatecrashing the podium therefore doesn’t seem an impossible mission.
Cameron Archer could also do better than a host of players on 10 goals in their first season at AJA, among them several well-known names such as Péguy Luyindula, Bonaventure Kalou, Ireneusz Jelen or, more recently, Hamed Junior Traoré.
A 5th goal against HAC ?
What’s next for Cameron Archer ? AJA’s trip to Le Havre AC. If the Englishman scores a 5th goal in his 5th match, he will equal the record held by Skoblar and Wagner, two Marseille players.
As a reminder, the former England Under-21 international was a great prospect at Aston Villa and in English football. Cameron Archer is experiencing life abroad for the first time in his career. After loans at Preston North End and Middlesbrough, he signed for Sheffield United and then Southampton in summer 2024. There, he comes off a season of 4 goals in 30 matches in the English second tier. In the last summer transfer window, Cameron Archer was loaned to AJ Auxerre by Southampton.
