Thomas Tuchel named England head coach – all you need to know about appointment

Harry Kane is England’s all-time leading goalscorer with 68 goals in 101 games. There have, however, been calls by some fans for the 31-year-old to be dropped, with someone else given a go.

But that is unlikely to be on the agenda for Tuchel – with the pair having paired up to such spectacular effect at Bayern last season.

Tuchel signed Kane from Tottenham in August 2023 – and the England striker hit 44 goals in 45 games under him.

In the Bundesliga he scored 36 goals in 32 games, a goal every 79 minutes, the best season of Kane’s career.

Among players to play at least 2,000 minutes for a manager in Bundesliga history, only Robert Lewandowski under Hansi Flick has a better minutes-per-goal ratio.

“You know how highly I think of Harry and how hard I fought to bring him to Bayern Munich. He is already on his way to being a legend in English football,” said Tuchel – who said he did not speak to Kane – or anyone – about taking this job.

However, Bayer Leverkusen beat Bayern to last season’s title despite all those goals – and Tuchel was replaced by Vincent Kompany.

“You have to build a team around Kane to make it work,” said former England defender Stephen Warnock.

“Tuchel know how to get the best out of Kane. It’s about getting the jigsaw pieces around Harry and make sure he gets the pieces right to get the best out of him. He’ll be delighted with the appointment.”

Other players happy to see Tuchel in the job could be Chelsea full-backs James and Chilwell, and Manchester United midfielder Mason Mount – none of whom have been England regulars for years.

Mount scored 15 goals and assisted another 12 in 56 games under Tuchel at Chelsea.