PRAGUE — England boss Thomas Tuchel says it will be impossible to find "another Harry Kane" as his captain closes in on history after extending his own goalscoring record. Kane scored his record-extending 87th goal for the Three Lions against the Czech Republic on Tuesday and is now just two appearances away from equalling Peter Shilton's mark of 125 caps as England's most capped player ever.
"You will not get another Harry Kane, first of all," Tuchel said. "He is the first one to push everyone and that is his mindset and he became a very, very hardworking forward on top of his finishing skills. He is a complete package." The 33-year-old Bayern Munich forward is in the form of his life after scoring 73 goals for club and country last term, putting him well into the conversation as a possible Ballon d'Or winner.
Tuchel admitted there is no obvious successor and said England must find different solutions when Kane eventually steps aside. "We look for different options and solutions. We finished the game with Jude [Bellingham] up front as a number nine," he said. "There will be someone else, but it will not be Harry or a copy of Harry. We will find a solution when it comes to it but maybe not me. It might be another 10 years." Finding a suitable back-up has been a long-standing problem, with Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney — the pair utilised at the past two major tournaments — now both in their thirties, based in Saudi Arabia and overlooked for the current Nations League fixtures.
While Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in the squad he is also approaching his 30th birthday, and Liam Delap is currently the only English centre forward under the age of 27 to have scored a Champions League goal. In Prague, Tuchel supplemented his striking options by deploying Real Madrid star Bellingham in a more advanced role than his normal midfield position after bringing him on for Kane.
"I like him as a nine," Tuchel added. "Then he can contribute to both sides and overload the sides and doesn't affect so much of the balance. We found a bit of a new role for him in the last match, as a central 10, so he can go to both sides and it is more of a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-3-3 to have Harry and Jude closer together and to give them a chance to overload both sides. We are working on that. 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."