Sport

Who is there to succeed Harry Kane?

Harry Kane scored twice in Thomas Tuchel’s first England camp this week, demonstrating that for now at least, the striker berth is secure for the foreseeable future, particularly with the 2026 World Cup in sharp focus. But with the all time record goalscorer heading towards his career swansong relatively soon, there must be fears over who inherits his responsibility in years to come.

With his contract running until just after the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico and the expectation that it is win or bust for him, what happens after Kane is not Tuchel’s problem. But for all of the talent emerging through the youth ranks in England, there is a distinct lack of options ready to step in to replace Kane when he retires from international football. There is a real possibility that England will be without a world class source of goals for the first time since the 1980s when that happens.

Since Gary Lineker won the Golden Boot at Mexico ’86 and helped Sir Bobby Robson’s side come within a whisker of the final at Italia ’90, England have always had an elite heir at the top of the pitch. Alan Shearer followed, and by the time Euro ’96 came around, a tournament in which he was top scorer en route to the semi finals, he had a plethora of extremely good options snapping at his heels. Terry Venables backed him at a time when he hadn’t scored an international goal for two years, but with Robbie Fowler, Les Ferdinand, Andrew Cole, Ian Wright and others in contention, he would have been forgiven for looking elsewhere for a focal point.

Shearer retired aged 29 after Euro 2000, but Michael Owen was already fully established. He’d announced himself at the 1998 World Cup in France with a stunning goal against Argentina. In 2001 he scored a hat-trick against Germany and won the Ballon d’Or; but three years later, he was ousted by arguably England’s greatest ever player in Wayne Rooney. Even though Gareth Southgate reached two finals in his eight-year reign, many believe had Rooney not broken his foot against hosts Portugal in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals, he’d have led England’s best hope of tournament glory since 1966. Rooney’s impact as a teenager hadn’t been seen anywhere in a long time, there was a snarling arrogance and freedom that came from street football, which he was able to seamlessly transfer to the pitch at the highest level.

Over the next decade, as often happens, Rooney went from English football hero to the man accused of failing to deliver when it mattered. He was so good, success with him at the forefront was demanded; but that weight of expectation was damaging, and Owen, Shearer and Lineker had felt it to a lesser extent before him. He still walked away from the national team in 2018 as the all-time top scorer with 53 goals, vacating the stage for Kane who has since surpassed him by a distance in terms of stats.

Kane has helped England reach new heights. For all the talk of the depth of quality around him, that wasn’t so different to any of his predecessors; Rooney and Owen were part of the Golden Generation, and Shearer led that phenomenal line of strikers. But what sets his era apart is the depth of the plan from the Football Association; elite development in players, coaching and facilities has created an environment primed for success, learning from past mistakes. The conveyor belt of talent is so strong that there is a suggestion England are yet to peak as the likes of Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton emerge to bolster the options in midfield and behind the striker.

Yet that same depth isn’t obvious up front and Kane’s successor isn’t set in stone. There are hopes for Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap, who has scored 10 Premier League goals in a team seemingly doomed to relegation, and is likely to get a big money move this summer, but not yet enough evidence to suggest the 22-year-old is ready to succeed Kane, much less that he’ll continue the reign of world class English strikers.

Delap was rested for the under-21s in their win over Portugal on Monday, but he was replaced by clubmate Omari Hutchinson, who is a winger by trade. Tactical trends have made strikers less fashionable over the last 15 years or so, and that appears to be causing issues in the supply line, having also contributed to the number of quality playmakers.

So who else is there? Kane has faced competition from solid Premier League strikers like Ollie Watkins, Callum Wilson and Ivan Toney in the past, but all of them will be either retired or past their best by the time Kane is ready to walk away. Dominic Solanke is 27, but the Tottenham striker didn’t get a minute of action this week and isn’t of the level required either.

Kane will turn 33 in the summer of the next World Cup, so there is time to rectify the issue, but not much. For all the quality young players promising silverware in England’s future, there could be a drought in attack after a string of genuinely world class incumbents. That should be of huge concern to English football’s decision makers.