Heskey Highlights England's Striker Crisis

Heskey Highlights England's Striker Crisis

After the England game last night against Serbia, Heskey highlighted one of England’s biggest issues going forward and this is the fact that the striker position is yet to find an heir to the throne. As many people know Harry Kane has been the 9 for England for years and going into what could potentially be his final world cup. So that now brings the question of who is going to full the boots of England’s all-time top goal scorer.

Well one way that was seen last night and was mentioned by Heskey is a false 9 playing in that position. Last night in the 65th minute we saw Harry Kane get taken off for Phil Foden who ended up playing as a false 9 with Jude Bellingham behind him as the 10. This could be one of the ways that England will have to play once Harry Kane goes. But that does also bring the question, if Kane gets injured for this World Cup how will we play, who will take his place?

We will be looking at 5 other striker who could potentially come to the World Cup if Harry Kane does get injured before the start of the 2026 World Cup.

Danny Welbeck

Now Welbeck definitely isn’t the answer for the long-term replacement for Harry Kane as the 34-year-old is also reaching the back end of his career. However, he could come into the England team for this tournament if Kane does get injured. The Brighton striker has scored 6 goals in 11 Premier League games this season, while not close to the numbers that Kane is putting up, is a good start to the season.

This season the striker is outperforming his xg something that is vital for a striker to do especially when looking at a knockout format. Having scored 6 goals from his 4.14 xg. His ability to score and experience to know the right places to be could be a good replacement for Kane especially for England where the creative players are everywhere. The chances he would get would be a lot more than what he would receive at Brighton and would hopefully see him scoring more goals.

Dani welbeck is on fire this season. Six goals scored in nine game. What a season he’s having at Brighton. pic.twitter.com/uk0z3ZV227

— Chelsea Madrid (@Vivianybuks) November 1, 2025

Ivan Toney

While he is playing his football in a weaker league than the rest of the players who will be on this list, he can still do a job for England. Having already scored 11 goals in 15 games for Al Ahli the 29-year-old has proven that he still very much has an eye for goal and once again is overperforming his xg. Another factor the striker adds is the fact that he is a clinical penalty taker and will be vital for England to win any penalty shootouts they might have.

However, once again he isn’t a long-term replacement for Kane having 2 tournaments left at the top level that being this year’s World Cup and the next Euros. However, this doesn’t stop him from being a good replacement for Kane this World Cup should he get injured. He would add that clinical poacher to the team something that they can struggle to have especially if Kane is creating deeper.

Ollie Watkins

Another 29-year-old enters the list and someone who was vital in England making the last Euros final. However, he hasn’t been able to find that same level since that Euro’s year. This season hasn’t been easy for Watkins having only scored 1 goal in 11 games so far for Villa. So, England with him especially with his current form does lose that level of clinical in front of goal and might struggle to score as many with Watkins leading the line. Especially as he is the least like a poacher that has been currently named on the list.

While he isn’t as clinical as Welbeck and Toney, he does have something over them and that’s his creativity. One of the main things that makes Kane so pivotal to England other than his goals is his ability to create chances for the wide players and other teammates. While Watkins isn’t on the same level as Kane when it comes to this, he is above the others when it comes to creating chances and attacking passes. He has already created 8 chances for Villa this season and he will hopefully carry this on if he gets picked for the England team. So, while we lose the poacher and target man in the box, we keep the creativity that the captain has.

Is Tuchel sleeping on Welbeck? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

With Ollie Watkins dropped from the squad, Thomas Tuchel ended the match against Serbia yesterday with Foden as the furthest player forward after choosing to go with just one recognised striker in Harry Kane… 🤔

Ex-Manchester United & Arsenal… pic.twitter.com/sBCNFUWkK8

— Sleeper Football (@SleeperFooty) November 14, 2025

Dominic Solanke

The 9 for Spurs is the most long-term striker that we have spoken about so far as he would be the same age that Kane currently is when we get to the next World Cup. He hasn’t had an easy season so far having been injured for most of the season so far. However, last season he proved that he can be a striker in a team that creates and scores. Last season the 28-year-old bagged 9 goals and provided 3 assists. He is similar to Toney both being target men who like the ball played to them in the box to finish off a move. However, the main difference is that Solanke still plays at the top level in England.

The one main issue with Solanke is that he isn’t the most clinical striker. Last season in the league he underperformed his xg by 2 goals. This isn’t something that England can have, while they have plenty of other forwards who can convert such as Saka, Bellingham and Rashford, they will need their striker to be scoring and clinical especially in the later round against the top ranked nations.

Liam Delap

After last season many believed that Delap would become the successor to Kane as the striker for England, however, he has struggled to really kick on especially since joining Chelsea in the summer. While he has been injured for the majority of this season, he is still yet to score but looking back at last season he can be a clinical striker over scoring his xg by 3 goals. However, he isn’t just a poacher, he can run with the ball completing 40 dribbles last season. Delap is definitely the favourite currently to take Kane place in the future as the 22-year-old shows buckets of potential.

However, he isn’t the immediate answer. One of the big issues that he could find is the fact that he is yet to have played a game for England senior team, something that he will need to have done if he wants to play in the World Cup in the summer. The other issue is his tendency to have a hot head. This was shown in the EFL cup match against Wolves, first game back from injury came on as a sub and saw a red card. This is something that England can’t afford at the World Cup.

Liam Delap's return from injury only lasted 25 minutes.

He came on in the 61st minute and was sent off by the 86th for a second yellow card 👋 pic.twitter.com/abrzxADzco

— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 29, 2025

So, who is the best option?

Out of the 5 strikers named none of them can do the job close to what Kane has done and will do. Therefore, the best choice is like Tuchel did last night and what Heskey said, play with a false 9 should Kane get injured. We lack any strikers who we can rely on to take Kane’s position and perform to a level even close to him. Therefore, the best option is to use a false 9 in that position.

We have already seen Phil Foden deployed in that last night, however, we do have others who can do that job and one of them was the man who played behind him yesterday. Jude Bellingham started his life at Madrid playing in a very similar role and he was thriving doing that. We have all seen his ability to score is elite and his creativity and linkup play is just as good. Deploying him as a false 9 would also free up room in that heavily contested 10 position for a Foden, Palmer or Morgan Rodgers. We can also play both Palmer and Foden in that position as both have been used there at club level, however, neither of them hit the hights that Bellingham did when he was played there at Madrid.

What do you think, should Kane get injured who would you replace him with, or would you use a false 9 like we saw?