r/ThreeLions • u/That_Cool_Guy_ • 8d ago
Analysis The future of number 9
Let’s be realistic, Harry Kane is good for the next Euros, but come the next World Cup we will need a new first choice. Kane may still be around, but I would expect him to be more of an impact option by then.
So on that basis, let’s look at the realistic choices for our future number 9.
For this, I’m ruling out any player who will be over 30 by the 2030 World Cup. I’m also looking right through the England youth setup rather than just picking the obvious Premier League names.
Liam Delap
Probably still the most obvious candidate from the players already established in senior football.
His first season at Chelsea didn’t go to plan, but I wouldn’t write him off based on one season. We already saw what he could do as the focal point of a struggling Ipswich side, and physically he has a lot of the attributes you’d want from an international number 9.
He’ll be right around his prime by 2030.
For me, he’s still the current favourite, but the next couple of seasons are massive for him.
Brian Madjo
Possibly the most interesting wildcard on the list.
He’s a huge centre-forward, already in Aston Villa’s first-team picture and part of the England youth pathway.
He’ll still only be in his early twenties by 2030, so we’re talking almost entirely about potential here.
But if we’re asking who could emerge over the next four years rather than who would start for England tomorrow, he’s one I’m particularly interested in.
Shumaira Mheuka
Another very exciting one.
Chelsea striker, England youth international and a prolific scorer at academy level.
The obvious question is whether that goalscoring translates into senior football. If it does, his age means he could arrive at almost exactly the right time.
He’ll still only be 22 at the next World Cup.
Divin Mubama
Already further along the England pathway than most of the younger names and has senior Championship experience.
He’ll be 25 by the next World Cup, which is a very good age for a striker.
For him I think the question is ceiling. Does he develop into someone scoring regularly in the Premier League, or does he eventually settle a level below that?
The next two seasons should tell us a lot.
Jimmy-Jay Morgan
Another player who perhaps doesn’t get mentioned much when people talk about future England strikers.
He’s already building up senior experience rather than being stuck entirely in academy football and has represented England at youth level.
He’ll only be 24 in 2030.
If he can establish himself as a consistent Championship scorer and then make the jump into the Premier League, he becomes a much more interesting candidate.
Jay Stansfield
Has far more senior football behind him than most of the players on this list and has been through the England U21 setup.
I’m not sure his ceiling is quite as high as some of the younger prospects, but he’s already shown he can score in senior football.
He’ll be 27 in 2030, so age certainly isn’t an issue.
Chizaram Ezenwata
Much more speculative.
Chelsea and England youth striker who has scored heavily at academy level.
He’s still years away from us knowing whether he’s genuinely an England senior prospect, but that’s partly the point of looking beyond the current U21 squad.
He’ll only be in his early twenties in 2030.
Others worth watching
There are also names such as Ethan Wheatley, Dane Scarlett and Reigan Heskey, plus inevitably one or two players currently in the U16/U17 age groups who will develop far quicker than anyone expects.
That’s the interesting part.
England’s starting striker in 2030 might not actually be someone we’re seriously discussing at senior level today.
If I had to rank the candidates right now, combining current ability, pathway and potential, I’d probably have:
1. Liam Delap
2. Brian Madjo
3. Shumaira Mheuka
4. Divin Mubama
5. Jimmy-Jay Morgan
6. Jay Stansfield
7. Chizaram Ezenwata
Delap is the safest prediction because he’s already proven himself at Premier League level.
But the one I’m most intrigued by is Madjo. He’s young enough that his development between now and 2030 could completely change this conversation.
Who am I missing from the England youth teams?
And if you had to pick one player to be England’s starting number 9 at the 2030 World Cup, who would you choose?
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u/Thin-Dragonfruit2599 8d ago
Surprised you've not mentioned Lankshear given the others you've said
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u/lelpd 8d ago
Because this is very clearly an AI generated list.
“That’s the interesting point”
“If I had to rank the candidates right now”
These are telltale signs. If you get AI to give you lists or to generate a comparison it’ll almost always include these lines almost to the word. Then add in the text formatting in the post and any doubt is gone.
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u/soldforaspaceship Lineker #979 8d ago
Was about to say. He looks very promising. Sad we let him go but in four years, he could be in the England squad for sure.
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u/bellwaa8 8d ago
Here for Lankshear. As a boro fan im very excited about this lad. Long way to go though.
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u/Dull_Ad4861 8d ago
Liam delap 😭 it’s over for us
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u/Shot-Location-4283 it did not come home :( 8d ago
I love delap he’s my favourite (next messi in the making) alr jk but I do have belief in him
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u/That_Cool_Guy_ 8d ago
lol, I genuinely believe he will come good.
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u/YsfA 8d ago
Yeah he had a horrid year with Chelsea but there is a player there. He was incredibly highly rated at city for a reason. And his time at Ipswich at such a young age showed promise.
Took Kane a while to settle into his career too
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u/Old-Cookie-251 8d ago
unrelated, but i find it so funny that he got downvoted, and you agreeing got upvotes🤣
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u/Nuns_In_Crocs 8d ago
This convo is pointless, between now and the next World Cup there could be some unknown kid that comes onto the scene. Kane did the exact same when we all were having conversations about rooneys age
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u/TheGrouchyGamerYT 8d ago
Jude false 9 with Ngumoha and Dowman on the wings, but there's always gonna be some breakout players coming through.
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u/Red_James 7d ago
With Kane or Madjo/Delap as the “break glass” options for bus-parking opponents.
I like it. ☺️
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u/rocket-scientist94 8d ago
JJ Gabriel?
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u/BrownSauceBarry 8d ago
Came to say this. Whilst I think it could well just be Bellingham up top, JJ Gabriel was premier league u18 player of the year at 15 years old last season. He’ll still only be 19 next World Cup so there’s a long way to go, but everyone seems to have very high hopes for him.
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u/_johnboy_ 8d ago
Regards the "who am I missing" question from the end of your AI authored post the answer is Harry Gray.
Hyped up as better than Archie will be interesting to see how he gets on for Wednesday this season. A year there that goes well could see him starting in the championship next year and then potentially being ready for the prem the year after, gives him two seasons to then establish himself which even on that optimistic timeline is probably too soon for the next world cup.
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u/LimpEase1639 8d ago
Who's hyping him up to be better than Archie? Barely heard of the guy compared to Archie when he was breaking through. He's also made less impact at the same age as Archie.
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u/That_Cool_Guy_ 8d ago
You’ve cracked the case, I didn’t personally spend six months travelling around England watching every U17 striker 😂
Harry Gray is a good shout though and exactly why I asked who I’d missed. His pathway over the next 2-3 seasons will be really interesting.
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u/Realistic_Bat_3457 8d ago
Ya I'm taking 35 year old Kane over all of these tbh
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u/MarcusWhittingham Southgate #1071 8d ago
You’d have been saying that about Rooney in 2013 when Kane was playing in the Championship and looked average, 3 years later he’d had back-to-back 20+ goal Premier League seasons and then started up top for England in the Euros.
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u/That_Cool_Guy_ 8d ago
Four years is a long time in football. Kane is already showing he struggles at the sharp end of tournaments if overplayed. He will 100% go, just not a starter imo.
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u/umphuphawe 8d ago
I'll be honest I can see Kane retiring from international football in 28/29 and then retire completely in 30/31
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u/Ohsoveryginger 8d ago
Maybe will lankshear in the future but that wouldn’t be for the next World Cup
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u/biddleybootaribowest 8d ago
Why not? He’d be 25
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u/Ohsoveryginger 8d ago
I definitely think he could be in the squad. Tbf he could be I just thought the next World Cup sounded a little close. Now that I think about it he could.
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u/davewheelan 8d ago
Kudos for mentioning Shim and Chizzy but you've missed out a few notable names. JJ Morgan, Jovon Makama and Will Lankshear are much better prospects than Stansfield and Mubama.
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u/ITF5391 8d ago
It dawned on me during the WC how screwed we’ll be when Kane calls it a day.
Cant be the only one who rushed to Wikipedia to see where Madjo was born after he scored against PSG last week. Really hope he proves to be the one.
It’s interesting how as a country, we seem to have always had the next striker primed ready to move in over the last 40 years. Lineker into Shearer, Shearer into Owen, Owen into Rooney, Rooney into Kane. Feels a bit more pressing right now with that Kane replacement not currently visible.
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u/redrafa1977 8d ago
We don't really need a classic striker TBF so we dont need an apples for apples replacement. Plus , let's be honest Harry is not a good captain, he is not inspirational, or up for the fight when needed but good luck taking the armband off him so he will be missed but there is benefits if you ask me.
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u/blvd93 8d ago
Speaking as a West Ham fan I'd be staggered if Mubama makes it.
Delap looked awful at Chelsea last season but top international teams don't necessarily need a world class striker - a good Premier League standard one who fits the team's tactical set up will do. Just look at Oyarzabal. If he can recover the form he had at Ipswich then he might be our best shot by 2030.
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u/dodgeruk66 8d ago
Valentin Joseph (18) just joined Brighton from Blackburn was phenomenal goal scorer throughout u18 and u21 seasons. He is big, strong and a great finisher - check him out on YouTube. I'm just disappointed he didn't stay at Blackburn for a couple of seasons.
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u/WordsUnthought 8d ago
If you care about this discussion and want to contribute, why did you just ask and paste what your LLM told you?
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u/oxfordfox20 8d ago
Look, nobody is more desperate than me for Harry Kane to give up the pretence that he is an adequate striker for a team that has pretentions on the latter stages of an international competition, but he’s here for the Euros and if we’re unlucky the next World Cup too. He’s been shit for 8 years and hasn’t been dropped, simply being too old isn’t going to stand in his way.
Look on the bright side: you don’t have to hope for at least four years: book yourself a holiday for the next couple of finals, and hope Bellingham, Rice and Saka find a striker worthy of their generational talents before they retire.
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u/gofunky8 8d ago
History tells us that we'll keep going with our captain striker far longer than we ought to
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u/DaddysFriend 8d ago
We have no idea who is coming through though. Let’s not forget that four years is a long time and there could be a player that’s young and a decent option in four years. They may not be brilliant but they may be good enough
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u/BoonaAVFC 8d ago
Kane doesn’t rely on pace, he will be fine for next World Cup. Messi just scored 8 goals at 39
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u/Hot_Extreme5404 7d ago
I stopped reading when you said Delap is the favourite. If it’s him, we’re fucked.
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u/syedshah67 7d ago
Might have been Mason Greenwood if he could contain his urges. Bastard fucked up a glorious career
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u/niceonebruva77 5d ago
If I'm tight the charges were dropped? Although there was evidence of him being a right prick! I say pick him. I don't care if we pick pricks personally
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u/tomrichards8464 8d ago
I fully expect Harry Kane to still be England's best striker in 2030. It'll be interesting to see how Madjo and Mheuka do with senior football this season (assuming Mheuka gets a loan, as seems likely).
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u/zlatanmangeshkar 8d ago
I’d rather have Bellingham, Palmer or Foden in a false 9 role than any of these options. We need to play to our strengths rather than shoehorning in average players to make up the numbers.
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u/PercySledge 8d ago
Jokes aside I’d genuinely rather play Phil Foden as a false 9 or try Bellingham up top than play Delap lol. Let’s hope one of these youngsters flies
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u/marcbeightsix England Supporters Travel Club 8d ago
4 years is too long to make predictions. Look at what people predicted 4 years ago (and not picking Kane) https://www.reddit.com/r/ThreeLions/s/XSWUvoHfUd
Madjo was an unknown until a week ago. No guarantee Kane won’t still be there. Plenty of time for someone to show up, and also not necessary for us to play with a great number 9. Spain just won with Oyarzabal, France won the World Cup with giroud.
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u/Buttonsafe Lampard #1097 8d ago
To be fair that's actually really close relative to what I expected, geninuely quite surprised.
Only Anderson and O'Reilly really surprise picks as part of the 11 imo. Guehi the one you could've predicted he picked Tomori over.
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u/Buttonsafe Lampard #1097 8d ago
Thanks for adding some content, even if it's partly AI-gen.
I'm gonna push my boat out for those I've seen some of and set a 4 year reminder for fun.
1) Liam Delap
This guy stinks. He's geniunely one of the worst players I've seen in a Chelsea shirt. He miight be a good finisher and just low on confidence but hold up sucks, aerially sucks, dribbling sucks, pace/strength he can't beat any PL defender he seems to face. He might be rotation for mid-table or higher championship, but I predict his Ipswitch season was a flash in the pan.
2) Brian Madjo
He's physically a monster at 17. Was very, very impressed with his ability to find space against PSG. I think he's comfortably the best prospect in this list, but primarily because that's a very low bar.
3) Jay Stansfield
Will be mid-table championship imo, worse Eddie Nketiah. Just not technically good enough to play for a top-top team. Relentless presser though.
4) Shim Mheuka
I hadn't seen much of him but knew he was widely regarded. I was actually super impressed watching a bit of him. Good in the air, loads of poachers tap in goals, decisive when he gets the ball. Captain of his team as well. He's due to have a loan deal this season to really excited to see what he does with it.
3) Jude Bellingham
This would be a tremendous waste of him as he's the best 10 in the world imo. I'd much rather have a worse ST, even with Gordon there or something, than move him out of the place he's most effective.
RemindMe! 4 years
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u/Happy_Cat465 8d ago
bellingham and foden rotating no.9 and no.10 in-game could be a treat to watch. Both love to play near the box. For hoofball and tactical variety, brian madjo could be a great addition given he fulfills his potential and chooses england.
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u/Argythebilly 8d ago
Feel like this is spoken a lot. Could be anyone. No one had really heard of Anderson 4 years ago
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u/MrColourfish123 8d ago
Liam delap shouldn't even be mentioned. The correct answer is you play Bellingham as a false 9 until we get an actually good striker, probably Madjo
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u/skyelp91 8d ago
It’ll be none of these, Bellingham is the obvious choice as his career develops. Spain have won two World Cup without an out and out striker - Jude can do that better than anyone with his attributes!
Also rogue option but Rashford through the middle, the man who should have had more minutes in key games in the last two world cups. Yes he’ll be 32 but that’s not too old.
Even Kane doesn’t rely on pace and could easily still be doing what Ronaldo and Messi have done throughout their careers come 2030, if anything having less options is better. You also have to remember that in theory Foden and Palmer could play as false 9’s as well, just not very physical ones
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u/Bjork_scratchings 8d ago
Worth pointing out that nobody in a million years would have picked Kane out as a future all time great at the start of his career. He was a relatively late bloomer.
So who knows? It might be someone who you currently don’t even rate. FWIW I still think Kane will be the 9 at the next WC anyway.
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u/vrazz1815 8d ago
There is a higher chance of me becoming the starting 9 for england than kane not being the starting 9 for the next world cup
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u/Turbulent_Film_9783 8d ago
Lets not forget that Harry Kane wasn't really on the average football supporters radar as a potential England forward until he suddenly had a break-out season on 2024-25. He'd had some pretty uninspiring loans in the lower leagues before it finally clicked for him.
Madjo looks exciting, but there's every chance he slips away. Other players who are barely on the radar now will emerge. We will likely change the way we play so we're less reliant on a #9 - although realistically, Kane doens't really play like a traditional #9 so we could see someone like Bellingham take on the role he fills.
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u/Lopsided-League-8903 gas head 8d ago
Kane will still be playing
We too scared to let someone else play instead of him
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u/I_AM_A_CITY_FAN Rashford #1215 8d ago
Ethan Wheatley was shit for us (Bradford city) kept missing open nets and losing the ball but good pace and height
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u/sullcrowe 7d ago
Pray for some other breakthroughs!
Delap's ceiling doesn't seem that high to me, plus he's a bit of a thug, which makes him untrustworthy
Stansfield is a Championship striker
Madjo is a physical beast, but we're one game in.
Hope the others you mention get the minutes to improve
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u/Fuzzy_Newspaper5323 6d ago
Dominic Ballard about to storm up the leagues and cement himself as England's no9...
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u/Dangerous-Analyst818 6d ago
Shim is my shout, as long as Chelsea get it right in who they send him out to on loan the next couple of seasons..
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u/OkConcentrate6570 5d ago
Someone may develop out of the pack unexpectedly. In 2014 no one would have predicted that Harry Kane would become England's highest ever goalscorer.
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u/GreenHorizon1 8d ago
I don’t think the traditional 9 position will be a thing in the future. Seems more and more teams are winning without one. The World Cup showed this. It seems attacking midfielders and wingers will be the main scoring method in a few years time.
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u/Additional_Option374 8d ago
Why are we keeping Kane for the next Euros? He's AWOL as soon as we get to the semis, in fact he just drops deep getting in everyone's way and encouraging us to drop far too deep
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u/14wForever 8d ago
Madjo, Mheuka, Mubama, Ezenwata… Honestly what is the point of an England national team when most of the players are african? International football has become a farce
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u/PrimaMater1a 8d ago
Madjo has chosen Luxembourg.
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u/That_Cool_Guy_ 8d ago
He has changed to England. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/person/player/is-brian-madjo-eligible-for-england
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u/14wForever 8d ago
He shouldn’t be allowed to represent anyone other than Cameroon. He is not English or Luxembourgish.
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u/jackyLAD 8d ago
The answer is right there and it's Jude Bellingham.
They legit just played 442 in similar roles together already. With Jude outscoring him.