Where England would be without Harry Kane is a question that gets harder to answer with every landmark he passes. The Bayern Munich striker became his nation’s joint-highest appearance-maker on Tuesday at Wembley, scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Czechia to take his tally to 91 goals in 125 caps. At 33, he is arguably in the form of his life.
His club record underlines the point. Kane won a league and cup double with Bayern last term and scored 61 goals in 51 games for the German giants across 2025-26, form that has placed him among the favourites for the Ballon d’Or. Yet when the next European Championship kicks off in the summer of 2028, he will be 35, and whoever is in charge by then will have to confront the question of alternatives and an eventual successor.
England boss Thomas Tuchel has already made clear there is no like-for-like answer. “You will not get another Harry Kane, first of all,” he said. “We look for different options and solutions.”
One of those options may already be in the squad. Tuchel appears to believe Jude Bellingham could fill the role, having said ahead of England’s 7-0 win over Croatia: “I like him as a nine. He is a natural goalscorer and he has the hunger to be on the scoreboard. He wants to be there and have the decisive action, so it makes not a huge difference if he plays as a nine or a 10.”
The numbers support the idea that Bellingham has added a more productive edge under Tuchel. Since the start of the 2026 World Cup, the Real Madrid midfielder has scored 10 times in 12 matches for England, having managed six goals in his previous 48 appearances. At Real Madrid he played frequently as a false nine in his first season, with Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo providing penetration from wide, and it was his most productive campaign for the club.
The comparison with Kane is not accidental. Much of Kane’s best work for England comes from dropping deep, operating as a playmaker and then surging into the box to finish, and Bellingham could be the closest fit for a player straddling the No. 9 and No. 10 roles. England would not be short of candidates to fill the Bellingham role either, with Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze among the options.
Not everyone is convinced. BBC Radio 5 Live’s senior football reporter Ian Dennis said: “The person who is going to replace Kane has already emerged – and that’s Jude Bellingham. We have seen it at times, when they play that false nine, Bellingham can go into that advanced role. He will also eclipse Kane in terms of appearances. This is a player who will continue to go from strength to strength.” Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson took a different view on 5 Live: “He is not a nine, Bellingham plays off others. I do think if England are going to play this system – and remember Kane has a long time left – I don’t see Bellingham as the out and out number nine.”
If England want a natural centre-forward instead, the depth is thin. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has made a case to be Kane’s back-up, with 17 goals in 40 Premier League appearances since moving to Leeds United last summer, although there is a sense he is not a dependable finisher – he underperformed his expected goals by 2.13 in the Premier League last season – and at 29 he is not a long-term solution. Beyond him, few centre-forwards are making a case: the only other English strikers to score in the Premier League this season are Nottingham Forest’s Liam Delap, rebuilding his career after a difficult spell at Chelsea, and Ipswich Town’s Chuba Akpom, with one goal each. Across the 2026-27 season, English left-backs have six goals – more than English centre-forwards, who have five. Danny Welbeck pushed for a recall last season with 13 Premier League goals, but at 35 his time is likely to have passed, while Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins, both previously considered by Tuchel, are playing in the Saudi Pro League, are into their thirties and were left out of the most recent squad.
Another route would be to play without a recognised striker altogether. Tuchel has used that tactic before, deploying Kai Havertz at the point of the attack during his time as Chelsea boss, where the German scored 10 goals in the 33 league games he was used as a centre-forward. World and European champions Spain have also made a fluid system work, converting wingers Mikel Oyarzabal and Ferran Torres into strikers. Anthony Gordon, who scored three times during the international break, could fit that bill: the winger was used as a striker by Newcastle United late last season and netted 10 times in 12 appearances in the Champions League overall.
Further down the line, there are intriguing centre-forward prospects coming through. Aston Villa’s 17-year-old Brian Madjo scored five goals in pre-season for Villa, including one in the UEFA Super Cup against European champions Paris Saint-Germain, in a performance that saw him trouble the elite centre-back pairing of Marquinhos and Willian Pacho. He has been sidelined for seven weeks since that game through injury but is close to a first-team return after appearing in a friendly against Sevilla during the international break. In the Championship, 21-year-old Will Lankshear, a Tottenham academy graduate like Kane, has hit the ground running for Middlesbrough with eight goals in 11 appearances for his new club. Manchester City’s Divin Mubama, on loan at Southampton, has scored five goals in 10 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers, while Bristol City’s Dom Ballard and Millwall’s Josh Coburn are also seen as young strikers with huge potential.
Kane himself may yet give them time to develop. He has spoken about being inspired by the longevity of the newly retired Lionel Messi, saying after England’s semi-final defeat by Argentina in the summer: “As you see on the other end with Leo there, he’s still performing at the highest level. So I never want to put a limit on these things.” England supporters, and Tuchel, will hope that holds. Whenever the handover comes, Tuchel expects the solution to be found rather than inherited. “There will be someone else, but it will not be Harry or a copy of Harry,” he said. “We will find a solution when it comes to it but maybe not me. It might be another 10 years.”