Next Gary Lineker? Match of the Day host names two Premier League stars that could become presenters - as ex-England striker prepares to leave prominent role after 25 years

Back in 1999, former Tottenham and Barcelona star Lineker was trusted by the BBC with inheriting presenting duties on their flagship Premier League highlights show. He has remained in that role for 25 years, but will be walking away at the end of the current campaign.

Lineker broke the mould when taking the MOTD reins, with important lessons being picked up from predecessor Des Lynam before he completed the transition from player to presenter. He has told FourFourTwo of treading that path: “Jimmy Hill had done it for a bit and Bob Wilson did it. But I looked at other sports and saw Sue Barker and David Gower, two people who’d played at the top of their sports, and thought, ‘Why has football not had that? It’s just general presenters who do the football all of the time’.”

The BBC are moving back to “general presenters” as Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan prepare to share Match of the Day hosting duties. The door will, however, be left open for another former player to follow in Lineker’s footsteps at some stage.

Quizzed on who that could be, the 64-year-old said: “It’s hard to know who could be a TV presenter at some point in the future, because it’s very different, though there are quite a few I could see being really good pundits. James Maddison for one, and Conor Coady has already done a lot of television. You can see which ones are decent in interviews. All-round presenting is a separate skill.”

Plenty of ex-players move into punditry - with the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney filling prominent roles at present - while former Lionesses star Alex Scott has made the transition into presenting from the women’s game and is another tied to a contract at the BBC.