Harry Kane: England's irreplaceable marksman

Harry Kane is the ultimate specialist in Thomas Tuchel's England squad of World Cup "specialists" -- a man who has taken the art of goalscoring to rarefied heights.

The England captain is preparing for a third World Cup at the age of 32, with a burning ambition to end his country's 60-year wait for a major trophy.

Kane's figures are staggering -- this season he won the Golden Shoe as Europe's top goalscorer for the second time, netting 36 times in 31 appearances as Bayern Munich surged to a 34th Bundesliga title.

In September he reached a century of goals for the German club in his 104th match -- the fastest anyone has achieved that landmark at a single club in Europe's top five leagues this century.

Kane finished the campaign with 61 goals for Bayern, including a hat-trick in the German Cup final.

He is also Tottenham's all-time top goalscorer (280 goals), England's record goalscorer (78), and the highest-scoring English player in the Champions League (54).

England boss Tuchel, who was Bayern manager when Kane arrived at the club in 2023, announced his 26-man World Cup squad last week, explaining he had "specialists for all kinds of different scenarios".

The German admitted after England's disappointing defeat by Japan in March, in which Kane did not feature, that there simply is no replacement for England's talisman and leader.

"In the absence of Harry Kane, we don't have the same threat," he said. "Bayern Munich, in the absence of Harry Kane, has not the same threat, no team in the world has the same threat, it's just normal.

"If top teams rely on top players and top nations rely on top players, that's just absolutely normal."

Bayern's honorary president Uli Hoeness did not mince his words, recently describing Kane as the club's best-ever signing.

Kane made his international debut against Lithuania at Wembley in 2015, opening his goalscoring account just moments after he was introduced as a substitute, and has been relentlessly prolific for club and country.

Yet there remains a curious sense that the England man is under-appreciated and underrated even in his own country.

Questions have been raised over whether his international record has been aided by qualifiers against inferior opposition.

And even his Golden Boot award at the 2018 World Cup was derided, with critics pointing out that just one of his goals came from open play.

Former England striker Chris Sutton dismissed doubts over the skipper's quality.

"If Harry Kane announced his retirement from international football today, we would instantly view the England team and their chances at (the) World Cup in a completely different light," he told the BBC.

He added: "Kane may not have too long left with England, but who is the replacement? Who is anywhere near his level? No one. That tells you all you need to know. As an all-rounder and ruthless goalscorer, England haven't had many better."

But does Kane still have something to prove on the biggest stage after mixed results at major tournaments?

He failed to score at Euro 2016 before netting six times at the World Cup two years later as Gareth Southgate's team reached the semi-finals.

Kane was England's top scorer when they reached the final of the delayed Euro 2020 tournament, but the 2022 World Cup in Qatar ended in disappointment as he missed a penalty in the 2-1 quarter-final defeat by France.

He had an underwhelming Euro 2024 as England lost to Spain in the final.

But the forward is England's highest goalscorer in major tournaments, with 15 goals in total.

And the numbers themselves, while impressive, do not give the full picture of Kane as playmaker as well as poacher.

"I think it's important when you're not scoring goals that you still bring an impact to the team, and that's what I try to do, both with and without the ball," the striker told UEFA.com.

Kane had to wait until his move to Bayern to end his personal wait for a major trophy after failing to win silverware at boyhood club Spurs.

Helping England end their much longer wait would cement his place as one of the country's all-time greats -- and silence any remaining doubters.