England's team of the decade

Forwards

Wide Forward: Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling is one of England's key players

Raheem Sterling has become England’s key player over the past year; since rediscovering his goal touch against Spain last October, he’s scored 10 international goals and now looks like the Three Lions’ biggest attacking threat on the pitch, but the truth is that he’s been pretty great for the most part of the decade.

The Manchester City forward first broke into the England set-up in 2014, and his performances were one of the high points of that year’s World Cup campaign. From there he became a regular for England, and while he struggled at Euro 2016, his performances were a key part of Gareth Southgate’s team’s journey to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018.

These days, Sterling is considered a genuine world-class talent, and it’d be crazy to leave him out of a side like this considering the part he’s played since his international debut.

Striker: Harry Kane

Harry Kane has 32 goals for England in just 45 appearances

Who else could it be? Wayne Rooney was relied upon for England’s goals during the first part of the decade, but since his emergence in 2015, nobody has scored goals for the Three Lions quite like Tottenham’s Harry Kane. In just four years, with 32 goals, Kane has already moved into 6th place in the list of England’s all-time top goalscorers – all in just 45 appearances.

Kane hasn’t simply acted as a flat-track bully, either. He’s popped up in massive games against the likes of Croatia, Scotland and Switzerland to score key goals and of course, how can you forget his performance in the 2018 World Cup, when he became the first Englishman to win the tournament’s Golden Boot since Gary Lineker in 1986?

It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that the current England captain is one of the best strikers on the planet right now, and Gareth Southgate likely wouldn’t swap the Tottenham man for any other forward. He’s that important for England.

Wide Forward: Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford has helped to energise England's attack in recent times

There would probably be a fair argument to suggest that Daniel Sturridge deserves a spot in this team; England’s forwards, with the exception of Rooney, Kane and Sterling have been somewhat lacking during this decade, but Sturridge scored key goals in the 2014 World Cup and in Euro 2016, when he struck the winner in a huge match against Wales.

But Sturridge is a central striker and wouldn’t get in ahead of Harry Kane, so I’m going with the third member of England’s current attacking trio, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. The forward hasn’t played more than a bit-part in his two tournaments – Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup – but it looks like he’ll be a key part of the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 campaign, and it’s easy to see why.

Since breaking into the senior set-up in 2016, Rashford has scored 10 goals for England and always offers an attacking threat, both with his ability in front of goal and also his ability to find his teammates with a killer pass. The United man has been so good for England this year alone that he deserves a spot here over the likes of Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott.