Les Ferdinand concerned by dearth of English striking talent in Premier League

Les Ferdinand admits he is concerned by the dearth of English striking talent in the Premier League ahead of the World Cup.

While captain Harry Kane leads the European goalscoring charts with Bayern Munich, the Premier League table is dominated by overseas players.

Leeds’ Dominic Calvert-Lewin with 10 goals is the only English player in double figures this season, and former England striker Ferdinand believes Kane’s deputy in North America this summer is likely to be whoever hits form over the final part of the season.

Ferdinand said of Kane to the Press Association: “At the moment he’s the exception to the rule in terms of churning goals out year in, year out.

“It’s who is the other they’re going to take. It’s a dilemma because I think any striker that has a period now where he’s scoring goals will have an opportunity to go to the World Cup.

“Everyone’s talking about Calvert-Lewin at the moment, he’s having a period in the Premier League. At one stage they were talking about Danny Welbeck but that seems to have gone a bit quiet.

“That just shows you the lack of number nines there is in the country at the moment. It’s a worrying situation. People keep saying to me ‘how do you rectify it?’.

“That level of competition’s not there anymore so that’s why I think there’s a dearth of talent coming through. You look around the squad and you think there’s strength in depth in most positions but one we haven’t is the centre-forwards.”

Ferdinand was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in Manchester on Tuesday, which marked the anniversary of his first goal for England.

The former Newcastle and Tottenham striker sits 12th in the all-time Premier League chart with 149 goals but such was the competition up front in the 1990s and 2000s that he won only 17 caps.

“Back in the day, the level of striker that was around: Mark Bright, Ian Wright, Teddy Sheringham, Alan Shearer, David Hirst, there were so many centre-forwards, number nines, and that was what we were traditionally known for,” said the 59-year-old.

“That’s probably what hindered my England career a little bit, there was so much competition, Stan Collymore and Robbie Fowler came after and Andy Cole.

“And these guys kept you on your toes, because if these guys were scoring at the weekend you felt, ‘well I have to score if I want to be mentioned in the same echelons as them’.

“Now you’ve got a lot of teams playing with a false nine. There’s not many number nines.”

Ferdinand joins more than 200 players, managers and teams in the Hall of Fame, which recognises impact and contribution to the game.

“To be recognised and held up in the Hall of Fame, it’s a really proud moment for me and my family,” he added.