What are England’s striking options as they head into a busy June of Nations League encounters?
- Cameron Loftus
- 24 May 2022
Harry Kane is nailed on to start up front for England, with Tammy Abraham his closest rival but who else could Gareth Southgate turn to should injuries rule out either of the duo?
England face four Nations League matches in 11 days in June, yet Gareth Southgate has named just two out-and-out strikers in his 27-man squad in Harry Kane and Tammy Abraham.
Jarrod Bowen, Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka are all capable of playing down the middle, but there will be several strikers who will believe they should be in the squad.
Planet Sport looks at the two strikers who got the nod from Southgate and four who will still be dreaming of Qatar should injuries befall Kane or Abraham.
Harry Kane
Nailed on to be on the plane to Qatar in December, Kane hasn't racked up the prolific numbers of recent seasons.
The 28-year-old played all but one of Tottenham's Premier League matches, amassing over 3,200 minutes for the north London club.
It is his most appearances since the 2015/16 campaign but he has shown little signs of fatigue, netting five goals in his side's last five matches.
Confirming your #ThreeLions squad for our upcoming #NationsLeague fixtures! 🦁
— England (@England) May 24, 2022
It took him to 17 top-flight goals, making him the highest scoring English striker. Nevertheless, it represents Kane's lowest-scoring season since 2018/19, a campaign in which he played nine less times.
His record for the national team speaks for itself, however. Kane sits only four goals away from Wayne Rooney's record of 53 and the England captain will be confident of overtaking Rooney before the year is out.
Tammy Abraham
Abraham is the one player in this list that isn't playing club football in England, but he is certainly flourishing under Jose Mourinho's leadership at Roma.
The striker has quickly adapted to life in Italy to become Mourinho's main frontman after joining from Chelsea last summer. The 24-year-old has only missed one Serie A match this season and that was due to a suspension.
Abraham has repaid his manager's faith by netting 17 goals and adding four assists in 3,097 minutes, giving him a slightly superior goal per minute ratio to that of Kane.
Abraham is also the second highest scorer in the Europa Conference League with nine goals, with only Feyenoord striker Cyriel Dessers ahead of the 6ft 3in attacker.
Callum Wilson
Imagine if Callum Wilson had been fit all season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/N8S6jEXBGS
— ToonArmy (@toonarmy_com) May 22, 2022
He may have earned the last of his four England caps in 2019, but since returning from another injury Newcastle's Callum Wilson has been in impressive form, ending his season with eight goals in 18 appearances.
Wilson accounted for 18.2% of Newcastle's 44 goals this season despite playing in less than half of his team's matches.
He missed 16 consecutive matches towards the end of the campaign with a calf injury, but returned for the final three games.
The Coventry-born striker captained his side against Arsenal, producing a standout display in the 2-0 win despite failing to find the net.
His form carried on into the last game of the season, with Wilson scoring both goals against Burnley to relegate the Turf Moor club.
Fit and in form, Wilson won't have given up on Qatar just yet despite having turned 30 earlier in the year.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Calvert-Lewin, like Wilson, has had a tough season beset by injuries. However, similar to his fellow countryman, DCL has returned in recent weeks and looks to be getting back to his best.
In his absence, Everton struggled to put the ball in the net. When Calvert-Lewin featured, the Toffees averaged 1.4 goals per game, but without the 25-year-old they scored less than a goal a game (0.95).
He came back into the squad with four games remaining, following a 13-minute cameo against Watford with two goals and an assist in the final three matches.
A fully fit Calvert-Lewin would have been certain to be part of Southgate's plans and he will hope to hit the ground running in 2022/23 to force his way back into England contention.
Ollie Watkins
Only four players played more minutes for Villa this season than Watkins, who featured in 35 of their 38 games and featured for 86% of Villa's minutes.
He didn't have his best season in front of goal, however, scoring 11 times, a number matched by Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount, and providing only two assists.
Watkins, who has seven caps to his name, was picked by Southgate for England's most recent clashes against Ivory Coast and Switzerland so he knows he is still in Southgate's thoughts. However, he will need to improve on his conversion rate, with ten big chances missed in 2021/22.
Ivan Toney
In his first full Premier League campaign, the Brentford striker scored 12 goals to make him the joint-fourth highest scoring Englishman. Four of those 12 proved to be match-winners, marking him out as a man for the big occasion.
The Bees scored 48 goals this season, with Toney accounting for a massive 25%. This put him eighth on the list, though some way behind Norwich City's Teemu Pukki who provided 47.8% of his side's goals.
Toney is yet to receive an England call-up and is being courted by Jamaica. However, he remains determined to represent the country of his birth and still only 26, time is certainly on his side.
