Credit: Imago

Tom Griffin

Fri 14 November 2025 7:45, UK

England secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Serbia in World Cup qualifying, but Thomas Tuchel must eventually resolve a worrying issue.

England secured a place at the 2026 World Cup during the October international break, and that meant Tuchel had an opportunity to experiment against Serbia.

Morgan Rogers was an injury doubt heading into the game, although Aston Villa fans were relieved when he started as a number 10, whilst Harry Kane led the line once more.

Bukayo Saka opened the scoring in the first half before Arsenal teammate Eberechi Eze doubled their lead with a fine finish after coming off the bench.

But on a night where England fans slammed Marcus Rashford for his performance, another alarming problem was exposed.

Emile Heskey questions the next generation of England strikers

Bayern Munich forward Kane was the only out-and-out striker selected in Tuchel’s 25-man squad for the international break.

Tuchel snubbed Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins after his return of just one goal in 16 appearances this term, while Brighton’s Danny Welbeck was arguably unfortunate to miss out.

So, with just eight English strikers featuring in the Premier League this term and Liam Delap the only one under the age of 26, Emile Heskey feels it is unclear where England’s next leading number nine is coming from after Kane.

“We’ve been lucky over the years we could see where the next strikers were coming,” Heskey said on The Wayne Rooney Show.

“We had a chain of players who could go from that next level, I came in after [Alan] Shearer and Rooney came after me, but where do we look now?

“We always had that chain but we are struggling to find [the next one] now.”

Wayne Rooney agrees with Heskey

England have always had a quality number nine waiting in the wings – as Heskey pointed out – but that is no longer the case.

Considering Kane is turning 33 next July, not having someone ready to take his place long-term will be a real concern for Tuchel.

When discussing the issue on his podcast, Rooney thinks players don’t want to play as a number nine anymore and would rather aspire to be like Mohamed Salah or Lionel Messi.

“I just think it is purely because they don’t want to play number nines now with the way the game is,” Rooney said.

“If you look worldwide there’s not many number nines, so it is not just England.”

“Everyone wants to be a Mo Salah or a Lionel Messi, and playing as a forward now you don’t touch the ball as much – and you have to be ruthless like Erling Haaland is and Kylian Mbappe. 

“There are no number nines out there, even Kane isn’t an out and out nine.”

Luckily, England have players such as Jude Bellingham and Saka—exciting forward talents—who can carry the torch for the next generation.