Harry Kane injury: England captain to miss Wales friendly

With Thursday night’s game a friendly and World Cup qualification looking likely, Kane’s injury is not a major issue for Tuchel.

But England’s reliance on Kane is obvious. The captain has scored a record 74 goals in his 109 caps, with the rest of the current squad scoring 53 between them.

Kane has scored 26.4% of all England goals since his debut in 2015, with Raheem Sterling – last capped during the 2022 World Cup – the only other player to score 20 goals in that time.

In Tuchel’s squad the most obvious candidate to step up on Thursday is Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, who regularly replaced Kane from the bench during last summer’s Euros, memorably scoring the winner against the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

Watkins has scored five goals for England in 19 caps but has only scored once for Villa this season.

Marcus Rashford is another option. The Manchester United forward is on loan at Barcelona and prefers to play from the left – but has played plenty of matches in the middle.

He has 18 goals for England – the most after Kane in the current squad.

Anthony Gordon has played in a central role for Newcastle and starred in that position for the England Under-21s when they won the Euros in 2023, but he has just one goal in 14 caps.

Outside of Tuchel’s current squad, Ivan Toney played against Senegal in June and is available but playing in Saudi Arabia, while Tottenham’s Dominic Solanke is injured and has only won three caps.

Chelsea signed Liam Delap this summer after an impressive season with Ipswich, but the 22-year-old is out with a hamstring injury and is yet to be called up to the senior squad.

The top English goalscorer in the Premier League so far this season is Burnley’s uncapped winger Jaidon Anthony, who has four.