Centre Forward - Saido Berahino
Age in 2022: 29 Currently: West Bromwich Albion, 3 England Under-21 caps, 4 goals This team selection is full of attacking midfield talent with just one forward simply because far more quality young attacking midfielders have emerged in England in recent years than centre forwards. This place in the team is pretty open for the taking, then, but West Brom's Berahino has definitely put himself ahead as the front runner this season. If Zaha's over £30,000 a week wages have turned his head and made him a worse player, there seems to be little chance of that with Berahino who, the BBC recently reported, earns just £850 as a weekly wage, about the same as the kit man. That low wage is a fairly good indicator of how quickly Berahino has burst on to the scene this year. After losing last year's loan star Romelu Lukaku, West Brom were always going to struggle for a new striking option. They bought in aging star Nicolas Anelka, but it was Berahino who scored the crucial goal in the Baggies' historic win over Man United while Anelka has yet to score once. Berahino has scored goals at every level, with 2 in the league and 4 in the League Cup this year. He has played for England at Under 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 level and has a great youth scoring record. Hodgson has been monitoring Berahino's rise and personally called him into the Under-21s in his brief period in charge in August. Berahino has repaid that faith with 4 Under-21 goals in 3 games since. Other possible contenders: Daniel Sturridge (33 in 2022), Nick Powell (27 in 2022), Adam Campbell (27 in 2022), Cauley Woodrow (27 in 2022), Harry Kane (29 in 2022), Connor Wickham (29 in 2022) Currently the top scoring English player in the Premier League, Sturridge will be 33 by the time the 2022 World Cup comes round and, therefore, maybe a little old still to be an England regular. However, he almost certainly has a few years of regular England football ahead of him yet. Most of the other highly tipped young forwards have yet to make an impact with their own clubs and are often out on loan to Football League clubs. These include the aforementioned Powell, who is as likely to end up a striker as a forward midfield player, Newcastle's Adam Campbell - currently on loan at Carlisle and also capable of playing on the wing, and Tottenham's Harry Kane - like Berahino a regular scorer for the Under-21s. All of these players need much more opportunity to appear at the top level before their quality can be judged, however. Wickham was deemed a greatly promising prospect a couple of years ago and has 6 goals in 17 Under-21 games. His absolute failure to establish himself at Sunderland after his £8 million move means he has slipped out of most people's idea for a future England team. Still just 20, Wickham may yet have another go at becoming a good Premiership player.