Should England be worried about who will succeed Harry Kane? | #SkySportsFC

Right, while England have many attacking options available, Harry Kane is Thomas Tuchel's only out-and-out striker for England's World Cup qualifier against Latvia tonight after Oli Watkins was ruled out with an injury. Charlie, the England head coach, confirmed that Kane will play after missing the friendly with Wales on Thursday. Very easy with Harry. He can play. He's fit. We did the right thing. He's top in training and ready to go. I don't see why he should not be able to play 19 minutes. So come on, we're having this conversation again and we're going to try and evolve it a little bit more. Harry Kane's 32, so he won't be playing international football forever. However, he probably could be playing at, not this World Cup coming up, the next one. Because he'd be 36. Teddy Sheringham's done that at 36 in 2002. There doesn't seem to be, I mean, I'll go stronger than that, there isn't a succession plan, is there? No, there isn't. There isn't a succession plan and it's because we have so many attacking wide players that now all of a sudden can play wide. Even like what Rob said, Marcus Rasford could be the third choice striker because he's easy to go out. He can play wide. He could be the second choice. He could be the succession. Yeah, of course, but he could play wide or he can play down the middle. Anthony Gordon, Gerard Boat, they're not number nines, they're wide players. But now the way football's evolved, we just have attacking players. What's all that about? I mean, you've got kids attacking at grass roots level. No one wants to be you. No one wants to be a number nine anymore. They want to be this number 10 or this wide attacking player on the left, cutting in on the right and in off the left, cutting in. It just doesn't, it's not glamorous to be the out and out number nine goal scorer now. Why? I'm not sure. I think it's the most fashionable thing. Goals are shared around now in the team. I totally understand that, but it's all about playing for the number nine. And that is now evident, shown, because we don't have a successor to Harry Kane. We don't. Ollie Watkins, brilliant. Yes, I understand. When he's flying, he's brilliant. The issue we have is no one's ever going to be Harry Kane, but no one's going in them footsteps. And then you have the forgotten man, you have Ivan Toni as well, but he never seems to be in the conversation because he's not playing in the Premier League. Let's have a look at this, because only seven, Charlie, English players, right, have played in the Premier League this season as outright nines, right, outright nines. So with Liam de Lap, the only one under 26, why is there such a shortage in this position? Look at these names, right, so these are England players who play as nines, outright strikers. Danny Welbeck, by the way, hasn't played for England since 2018, so I think we can respectfully cross his name off the top there, right? Ollie Watkins, Eddie Nketi, Liam de Lap and Solanke are probably the only ones who've got a sniff, and I mean a sniff. Is Dominic Calvert-Lewin going to play for England again? Callum Wilson going to play for England again? There's a dearth, Charlie, looking at that. As you look at it, the only standout name for me, as you look at it, you have Ollie Watkins already in there, but the standout name is Liam de Lap for what he done at Ipswich last year. Can he go and do that at Chelsea if he stays fit? Can he really grab the bull by the horns and go and be like, right, I'm going to make a big run for it now and be England's number nine? But we're yet to see it. He's got all the potential in front of him to go and do that. It'll just be if he can do it. The scary thing is, other than Liam de Lap, there is no standout name. There really isn't. Yeah, and obviously the name that's not on there, Ivan Toni, he'd be 30 at the World Cup, obviously he's still out in Saudi Arabia at the moment, but you'd like to think that one day he'll come back. You've got to take him. Like I say, he's forgotten because he's over in Saudi and you're forgetting about him because he's not there, it's not talked about. You've got to take Ivan Toni for all his qualities. Unbelievable penalty taker as well, by the way. We're going to the World Cup, there's every chance we're going to go to penalties. Unbelievable. That's just another added part to his game. And I guess the issue, Charlie, is, and Wayne is making that point on the message you can see there, is that no one is going to drop, no one in their right mind, whether it's Tukor or the next England manager or the last England manager, is going to drop Harry Kane when he's fit to find out what the options are, right? We're almost waiting for Kane to get injured for this succession plan. Yeah, but let's get past this. We've gone about Kane getting injured for a succession plan. There isn't one. There's not a standout we can see in the Premier League. We've never given anyone a chance to be the successor. Who's going to give them the chance? Well, I mean, what player's going to give them a chance? What kid's going to run in the England team of 10-10? Instead of Harry Kane when he's fit? No, no, I'm saying, like, that's the thing, you're not going to drop Harry Kane, but if Harry Kane does his ankle, like he used to do regularly, which he doesn't seem to ever get injured again, Harry Kane, great for England. The scary thing is, mate, is now what they're going on about is that you have wide players attacking players that can now play as a number nine. We're talking about Anthony Gordon can play as a number nine, Jarrah Bowen can play as a number nine. No, they're not number nine. Let's be real. So what would you do as Tukor, right? If, God forbid, England support Harry Kane gets injured and misses the World Cup. Harry Kane misses the World Cup. Olly Watkins and Ivan Tony have got to be in there. You wouldn't grab Marcus Rashford by the hair and say, mate, you're playing there. Yes, he can go in that scenario, but you've got to force him to go in there. We've had this conversation about Marcus Rashford so many times and he's come out and said, I don't want to play as a number nine, I want to play as a wide man, a wide attacking player. Be the number nine, go and have the hopes of the country on your shoulders, like Harry Kane does week in, week out. And the reason why we don't have success to Harry Kane is because he's the only one to carry the weight of the country on his shoulders. I think, you know, what kids are we watching going hold on, don't sleep on me. I've had a bad start to the season, but I'm only a spring chicken and I still start with the team. But no one's sleeping on him. Harry Kane's the number nine, he's the number one and that is it.