'He's the natural one' - Gary Lineker reveals his top choice to replace Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane as England captain

Bayern Munich striker Kane was named Three Lions skipper shortly before the 2018 World Cup. He has gone on to become his country’s all-time leading scorer, with 69 goals to his name, while leading them to back-to-back European Championship finals.

Questions are, however, being asked of Kane’s ongoing presence at 31 years of age – with the prolific frontman facing competition from more mobile attacking rivals. If he were to slip out of the starting XI, as Thomas Tuchel prepares to inherit managerial reins, then the armband would need to be passed on.

Discussing who could take over on the Rest Is Football podcast, ex-England striker Lineker said: “Jude Bellingham or Declan Rice. I would go with Bellingham, I think he’s the natural one.”

When it was put to him that a prominent figure at Arsenal could also be in the mix, Lineker added: “I was just about to mention Saka, he’s a possibility. Resilience, brilliant football, he’s always going to play even with all this talent England have got. It’s not a bad shout but I would go for Jude, I would go for Bellingham.”

Lineker, who scored 48 goals for the Three Lions between 1984 and 1992, has previously said of why Kane could be phased out by England: “He’s in his 30s now. When I was 30, 31, my legs started to go. I retired from international football at 32. At 31 that was happening [legs going] and it’s horrible, it’s horrible.”

There is no sign of Kane slowing down at present, with the 20-goal mark being reached through 19 games at Bayern this season – with that haul including four hat-tricks. He has expressed a desire to play on for England, with it possible that he could reach 100 goals and a new record high of 126 caps.