Lack of English strikers worries England as Thomas Tuchel remains dependent on Harry Kane – Between the Lines | Football news

Are English strikers a dying breed? This week Between the lines solves one of the biggest problems facing the national team.

Harry Kane is Thomas Tuchel’s only available striker for England’s World Cup qualifier against Latvia on Tuesday after Ollie Watkins was ruled out due to the injury he suffered against Wales.

Tuchel has an abundance of attacking talent at his disposal at No.10, but England continue to rely on Kane up front, with Watkins the only established alternative at international level.

Kane is England’s top scorer with 74 goals in 109 games for the national team, but no other player in Tuchel’s squad has more than 18.

Kane is of course in the form of his life at the moment. He has scored 18 goals in 10 games for Bayern Munich and England this season. He is the top scorer in the European major leagues. But how much longer can England count on him? And where are the other English No.9s?

Recent seasons show a sharp decline in Premier League goals scored by English strikers, from 120 in 2022/23 to just 67 last season. Seven games into the new campaign, the total stands at just six, the lowest percentage of the overall total ever recorded at 3.3 percent.

The loss of Kane’s goals of course had an impact following his move from the Premier League to the Bundesliga when he joined Bayern Munich from Tottenham in August 2023.

But the lack of England strikers to fill the void is a major concern.

It’s a question of playing time but also of goals scored.

The same downward trend can be seen in minutes played by England forwards over recent Premier League seasons, with this season’s total expected to be significantly lower than in previous years.

This is not due to a lack of demand. In fact, as we explained in a previous edition of Between the linesThis summer’s transfer window showed that attackers are increasingly sought after.

The total of £737 million spent on strikers by Premier League clubs was almost twice as high as last year’s figure and considerably higher than in the 2023 and 2022 summer windows as well.

The rush to recruit outright strikers has been led by the Premier League’s elite clubs. Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle have all spent heavily on new No.9s.

The problem for England, however, is that most of these clubs have had to turn to foreign players to give them what they need, with Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko headlining at Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Chelsea’s £30million deal to sign Liam Delap from Ipswich was an exception. The hope is that the 22-year-old, a former England youth international, can become a senior option behind Kane once he returns from the hamstring injury he suffered in September.

But young English No.9s are rare.

Surprisingly, only seven English players classified as full strikers have appeared in the Premier League this season. Delap is the only one of the seven who is under 26 years old.

The shortage of young English attackers raises questions at an academic level. Is youth development in England too focused on producing wingers and No.10s rather than center forwards?

But it is also a question of opportunity. The vast majority of top teams play with just one striker, making opportunities harder to come by for young players trying to break through in that position.

It could be argued that England don’t necessarily need their main goalscorer to be a striker. In Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen, Marcus Rashford and Eberechi Eze, they have plenty of supporting strikers who have shown their ability to score freely at club level.

In the short term, Tuchel has the option of redeploying these players as central attackers. He would have to choose between Rashford, Bowen and Anthony Gordon if Kane fails to last 90 minutes against Latvia after returning from injury.

But as the game moves back towards outright number 9s, the true cost of England’s struggle to produce players capable of competing with Kane, 32, may only become apparent in the longer term.

Read Between the Lines from last week

We took an in-depth look Erling Haaland Extraordinary goal rate for Manchester City. Will he beat Alan Shearer’s Premier League record? And how many goals should he score if he ends his contract at the Etihad Stadium? Spoiler: it’s a lot.