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World Cup stories: Teddy Sheringham backs England outcast as World Cup option
Thomas Tuchel may not have learned an awful great deal from England's two friendlies last month, at least from the performances on the pitch, but there still remain questions to be answered ahead of his World Cup squad.
Several key areas are still up for grabs, one of which is who is the frontrunner to be Harry Kane's back-up this summer?
March's games saw both Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin given an opportunity to impress, but neither managed to stake a claim to the role, and it left the door open for other candidates to make their case before the end of the domestic season.
Harry Kane is a hard man to replace
All his goals from the 2018 World Cup
One man who knows all about competition in that position for England places is Teddy Sheringham. The former Three Lion was part of a generation when the national team were blessed with a plethora of top-drawer hitmen, but it was he who went to the World Cup in 1998 as first choice alongside Alan Shearer.
Speaking exclusively to DAZN News, thanks to BestBettingSites, Sheringham believes that Ollie Watkins remains in a prime position to be included in Tuchel's final party; however, he has stated the case for another name, whom he'd recall to the squad.
He said, "Probably Ollie Watkins would be the first choice. There’s not a lot between the boys that others there, like Danny Welbeck and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
"However, Ivan Toney is still on the radar for me if you want someone similar to Harry Kane — someone who leads the line and brings players into play. But because he hasn’t been playing in the Premier League, it’s gone a bit quiet for him, so I doubt whether that’s going to happen now.
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"I’ve always liked the way Ivan Toney plays. He has very good awareness as a centre-forward.
"He’s banging the goals in over in Saudi Arabia. He’s in great form - as a striker, you want to feel that momentum and rhythm in your game. You want to score goals on a regular basis, and he’s doing that.
"Toney would definitely be in my mind if I’m looking for someone to step in for Kane."
Toney was part of England's Euro 2024 squad and set up a goal for Kane in the round of 16 clash with Slovakia. However, he has only made one of Tuchel's England squads so far and played just two minutes under the German in the Three Lions' 3-1 defeat to Senegal last summer.
He has one goal in seven outings for his country, but this season does top the goal-scoring charts in the Saudi Pro League, having netted 36 goals across all competitions for Al Ahli.
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