Exclusive With Emile Heskey: What EA Sports Got Wrong About His FIFA Ratings, England’s Best Players & Ronaldo vs. Ronaldinho

Former England and Liverpool ace Emile Heskey has opened up on the three Premier League greats who ruled the roost on England duty when it came to FIFA and Call of Duty in an exclusive interview with Eldorado.gg.

Speaking ahead of the November international break, the retired centre-forward gave his thoughts on the impact of the FIFA series and EA FC and the latest goings-on in the world of football.

Emile Heskey

Full interview with Emile Heskey

Q: How popular was FIFA during your time as a player with England, Liverpool and your other clubs?

EH: Do you know the funniest thing? My teammates at Liverpool and England would play FIFA and Call of Duty, but I never played video games or anything like that, even though I’d go viral because of FIFA years later.

You could always hear it down the corridor, everyone huddled around a console and screaming! FIFA was always massive, mainly when we were away with the England national team, but it was a big thing at clubs as well.

I’ll tell you the ones who played a lot. Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe were both always at it, and they were very good. Wazza played a bit as well. He was one of the better ones on FIFA.

Q: Your sons are professional footballers, having come through an era where FIFA and EA FC are part of the culture of football. Are they fans of the games?

EH: My sons are into the games. They love EA FC and all that, so they do play it, and I’ve got some of their cards too. I haven’t got Jaden’s yet, but I’ve got Reigan’s, and I’m trying to collect them. It’s nice to see them enjoying it.

They haven’t complained about their stats on the new game just yet, but I’m sure they will! It’s interesting to see who actually does complain because they used to put me down as slow-paced, but I was quick! 

It’s interesting when you see these sorts of things and how people look at you with their perceptions of your game. You just have to leave it to what everyone wants to say.

Q: If EA Sports got in touch tomorrow to say they wanted to create a new Emile Heskey hero card, what attributes would you insist on?

EH: If they’re going to do me an Emile Heskey hero card, my strength has got to be high, and pace has got to be high. Everything else, you know, it is what it is. But pace and strength have got to be high.

Q: How important are legends in these games as a way to help players understand how good the greats really were back in the day?

EH: If it helps people to understand the quality these players had, I think it can be a good thing, and YouTube is a useful one for that as well.

I think I was watching some highlights myself the other day against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in 2001, and I couldn’t believe it. I was playing left wing! Being able to go back and see players and watch what they were really like, I like things like that because you hear people saying Ronaldinho was better than Ronaldo Nazário, and I just think you never saw Ronaldo!

Go back and watch that one year he had at Barca and then watch him a few years later at Inter Milan. People say Ronaldinho had more tricks? Go and watch Ronaldo and then tell me that.

Q: Turning to football away from EA Sports FC now, are Liverpool going to have to remain patient for at least another year before they win something under Andoni Iraola?

EH: Is Andoni Iraola laying the foundations this season? I don’t know if that would be his thinking because the reality is when you go to a big club like Liverpool, you want to hit the ground running.

You don’t know how long you’re going to last in these jobs. You’re always 10 games away from being sacked!

Really, Iraola wants to be putting his name on a few trophies straight away, thinking, let’s get these games won, get everyone up to speed, and get playing the way he wants them to play. 

We saw with Arne Slot that nothing is guaranteed, even at Liverpool.

Q: Rio Ngumoha was brilliant against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. Does he remind you of any of your former teammates or rivals?

EH: The only player I could probably compare Rio Ngumoha to is Joe Cole. Sometimes we forget, as time goes by, we forget how good players were, and Joe Cole was a dribbler. There were players that couldn’t get near him. 

Joe Cole played more centrally than Rio does. Rio’s a winger. I’m sure I’ve seen another player like Joe Cole, to be honest with you, because as a dribbler through the middle, he was arguably the best. He’d go left, right, twisting players through the middle, taking players on, doing two or three stepovers, and this was all when he was 18 or 19 playing at West Ham. He changed a little bit when he went to Chelsea, but that was a credit to how he could adapt his game too, and something Rio needs to learn from.

You go from West Ham to Chelsea, and suddenly you’re no longer the big fish in the small pond. You’re part of this system, and you’ve got to find out where you fit in, and he went on to win the league and plenty of other trophies playing that way, so who can say it was wrong? Maybe we’ll see Rio take Liverpool to a few more league titles as his style of play matures too.

Q: Given the game time Trey Nyoni is enjoying under Iraola, can he be the solution to their midfield problems to save Liverpool from spending a fortune in the transfer market given the prices of Elliot Anderson and Sandro Tonali in the summer?

EH: Can Trey Nyoni save Liverpool £100 million in the transfer market by filling the place of the holding midfielder they’d otherwise need to sign? 100%! You’ve got to remember, though, he’s only 19, so he can keep doing this for the next 10 years. 

A lot of fans and a lot of pundits have been looking at Liverpool and saying they haven’t really got anyone who can punch a ball through and keep it moving, but now we’re seeing that that’s what Trey does, and he does it well.

He’s only slight, so we’re not really looking at his stature and thinking he will be winning possession back at this moment in time, but he’s doing well with the ball, and what he produces for Liverpool in that role has been outstanding.

It allows Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch to play further forward, and that’s probably where you get the best out of them, and they can help Trey by covering the ground and winning back the ball more aggressively than he can.

If they can play in these higher positions, with Trey sitting back, it could give Liverpool a new lease of life because Gravenberch was only playing that role himself out of necessity. He’s not a holding midfielder. He only played there because Liverpool didn’t have anyone else.

Now he can play further forward, and we’ll start to see what he’s really about as a midfielder too.

Q: Bradley Barcola played wide right against Arsenal. Is it his destiny that he takes on the Mohamed Salah role at Liverpool in the long term?

EH: Bradley Barcola has shown he can play Mohamed Salah’s old role, but I think he’ll have to play in different positions too to adapt to what Liverpool needs.

You look at Rio Ngumoha. Rio’s a left winger. He loves to pull out all these tricks on the left wing, and he will inevitably come inside and have a shot, but Iraola has put him on the right wing and told him he’s got to be prepared to do both. Go down the line and cross balls, or come inside and thread balls in. So he’s actually adapting very well.

We saw at Bournemouth what Iraola does with his wingers, and I think both Barcola and Rio can go on to big things if they give him what he wants out wide.

Q: Would Manchester United improve if they moved on from Michael Carrick or are they right to stick by him?

EH: They’ve tried everything, and it’s come back to the same position regardless of who the manager is. That suggests it’s not the manager, then. There’s got to be something else going on that no one’s been able to address. They’ve had the best in Jose Mourinho. They’ve had some unknowns as well. Even Michael Carrick is a bit of an unknown. He’s very young in his coaching career. He got them to third last season and did a really good job, but now look at the mess they’re in.

It goes to show it’s not just on Carrick. Everyone who’s gone into United has ended up in the same boat eventually, so they need to figure out, first and foremost, as a club, who they are and what they should be doing. Are they still this giant? I mean, it doesn’t look like at the moment, given recent results.

Q: What do you make of the idea that Manchester United need to be relegated to change the deeper problems at the club?

EH: Manchester United getting relegated this season would be the biggest story in the history of the Premier League, but I still don’t think they will go down. We all said the same about Tottenham Hotspur, and they were in a proper relegation fight in the end. It will be the same for United.

The reality is that United have some fantastic players that can easily pull them out of this situation. The only thing is, you change Michael Carrick and you bring someone in who gives you that bounce-back, and you’re going to be changing that boss again within six months to a year anyway.

Some fans might say they want United to get relegated to get rid of their owners, but take it from me, you don’t want that. I’m from Leicester. You look at what’s going on there, and the reality is that you don’t want to be going down the route of treating relegation as the reset you need to get rid of this or that.

At the end of the day, you’ve got a five or six-billion-dollar company where you’re saying that we should strip it back and make it go down to bare bones and then try and force them to sell it, and for what? There’s no guarantee that puts you in a better position. 

You just want an owner like that to get the best he possibly can for himself and get out when it’s the right time. That’s the best United fans can hope for. Don’t wish for relegation. If you’re not careful, you might end up in League One like Leicester City.

Q: Where do Leicester City go from here given their start to the season?

EH: It’s just tough to know what to make of Leicester City and their future because this is not something that’s happened in the last four or five years. It’s probably happened over the last 10 years. Since they won the league, the thinking has been, OK, let’s go and be this big powerhouse, but we’re not that. It’s the result of something that’s just been kicked down the road for a while.

Enzo Maresca winning the Championship to go back up was probably not the best thing that could have happened to Leicester. I know it sounds weird, but we weren’t in the right position to go back up. We were probably even worse than when we went down.

Q: Should managers like Michael Carrick be expected to speak on decisions made by sporting directors?

EH: Once you go into a club like Manchester United, you should know exactly where you stand. When you sign the contract, the parameters should be clear to you. The reality is that with directors of football and all that, people like Jason Wilcox should be the ones coming out and talking about the job and their vision for the club. If a manager like Michael Carrick doesn’t have full control over it all, how can he talk about it?

At a press conference, when you’re talking about players coming in and out, half of the managers these days don’t have full control over all that, so the directors of football need to be pulled in to talk about this stuff. Go and tell the fans why you brought this player in or sold that one. Don’t leave it to the manager to front it up.

The pull of Manchester United as this big global sports brand is wearing thin now. It used to be that the 20 or 30 top managers would have all wanted to go to Manchester United at one stage. You might not even get three or four interested in the job as it is now.

Q: Is Dominic Calvert-Lewin the best-placed player to step in for Harry Kane in the England pecking order now?

EH: Dominic Calvert-Lewin has put his name in the hat, hasn’t he, and you have to take your hat off to him because he had a tough time leaving Everton. I wouldn’t say no one was looking at him, his name was linked with loads of teams, but no one foresaw him going to Leeds, to be honest with you.

He seems to have reinvented himself there. He had a lot of injuries, and he seems to be getting over that period where he can actually be on the pitch, and when you put the ball in the box, outside of Harry Kane, and obviously Ivan Toney, as far as English strikers go, who’s the one that’s really going to put their head on the ball, or get in front of a defender, outmuscle them, and get that goal? It’s him. You’ve got to say that he has done really well himself because I didn’t see that coming, for one.

As for joining Manchester United, Alan Smith was the last one to make that move? Dan James went the other way. It’s still a rare move, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Manchester United are looking at him. Everyone has a value. It depends what they put on the table in January.

Q: What did you make of Teddy Sheringham’s view that Viktor Gyökeres plays like a child and is nowhere near where Arsenal need him to be as a senior player?

EH: Saying that Viktor Gyökeres plays like a child is a little bit harsh, but when you’re at a bigger club, the expectations on you are sky-high, and you do need to understand everything about your role.

If, like Gyökeres, you don’t have that understanding of how to do the job of playing a centre-forward in the Premier League, it’s then about what you work on in training and what you can do off the training pitch to gain that understanding of what is needed of you.

I look at my own journey. I went from Leicester City, where we played up, back and through. I was off chasing the channels, dribbling with the ball. Me and Muzzy Izzet would take it down the line, try and cause havoc. Then I go to Liverpool, and I’ve got to figure it all out again. Where do I fit within this team, and what do they need? What do they want from me? What’s the style of play? 

It wasn’t up, back and through like how I had been playing at Leicester. Everything was to feet, sliding the ball into players, making runs here and there, and so I had to be clever enough to understand how I could fit into that, and what was needed from me by that group of players.

I played with a couple of the best strikers ever, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, and I knew that Wayne was different to Michael, so I needed to adapt my game to understand how to play in that system.

Gyökeres is 28 now. He’s not a youngster. He needs to get up to speed, and if he were to work on just one thing, I think it has to be his hold-up play because that is the quickest way to suddenly become important to your team as a centre-forward.

Q: How would Arsenal benefit from Viktor Gyökeres if he focused more on serving the team’s needs than trying to score goals?

EH: Why did Eden Hazard love playing with Olivier Giroud? Because he knew he could bounce the ball into him, trusting in him to hold the ball up so he could run on and play off that. As a striker, you need to figure out the one thing that’s going to give you the nod to put you ahead of others. Why would he start ahead of Kai Havertz if they’re both fit?

If Viktor Gyökeres can learn how to play his role, then it’s not just Bukayo Saka who would benefit. It’s all the wingers at Arsenal and the number 10, because Martin Ødegaard is behind you, and he’s the one that needs to create some space and play off you, and then it’s Saka. He’s going to come inside, and you’ve got to figure out how you are going to give him a shot on goal. 

We’re not even talking about creating goals at the minute. We’re talking about just playing, and in the end, he’s got to try and figure out how to get his own goals as well.

Would Viktor Gyökeres be better off moving to a club like Everton, Newcastle or Manchester United to be starting every game rather than sitting on the bench? It depends on what he wants.

If he’s not happy to sit on the bench at Arsenal, then he needs to make a change, but some people are quite happy to be part of a squad knowing they’re at a big club. For me, if you need game time, you need game. 

Q: What now for Trent Alexander-Arnold after seeing his chances for game time reduced at Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho?

EH: Bayern Munich would be a good move for Trent Alexander-Arnold. The German league, the Bundesliga, is very competitive. He’d be at the biggest club there, and that would be amazing for him, but I would love to see him back at Liverpool. 

For all the negatives that we talk about him as a defender, the positives outweigh that, to be honest with you. What he gives you going the other way outweighs that massively.

But Manchester United? No, I don’t think he’d ever do that. I think he’d rather just sit on the bench in Madrid and practice his Spanish if that was his only way out.

Q: Given the way they picked up Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea’s academy, should Liverpool be trying to offer Estêvão a route to more game time at Anfield?

EH: Estêvão would be a great signing for Liverpool. You look at what he would bring: his drive on the ball and everything, he’s a very tidy player, and that is exactly what Liverpool still miss after losing Mohamed Salah, someone who is more direct.

It would put pressure on the other wingers, who are great players as well, but it ups the ante, and he’d love the chance to get more chances to show what he can do because he’s been out of the reckoning at times for someone of his talent.

Q: Is Morgan Rogers one of the first £100m+ signings to actually deliver on his price tag compared to the number of flops who have moved for that sort of money?

EH: Morgan Rogers is brilliant, and he’s hit the ground running at Chelsea. What a fantastic footballer.

It might be too soon to be talking about the Ballon d’Or, but he’s on the path to greatness now. What’s interesting is that when you look at that list of all the players to have moved clubs for £100m or more, he wouldn’t have even been in that bracket, but he’s the one doing well.

He cost Chelsea £113 million, and he’s looked worth every penny. When I watch him, I’m left thinking, wow, they’ve actually got their money’s worth there, which is great.

I watched him at Aston Villa, and he was brilliant for them too. It’s his subtle movements and everything else in his game, the way he turns, drives, and plays players through. This was before the World Cup, and watching him for Villa, all I could think was that he is definitely on the plane. Everyone else is going to have to fight for the other seats because he has to go. You could just see how good he was, and how good he can still become.

Obviously, he’s got his mate Jude Bellingham ahead of him at this moment in time, and he’s constantly shutting his doubters up, so the national team is looking great, especially in midfield. It’s looking awesome, in fact.

You’ve got others coming through too who can step up as well, like Liverpool’s Trey Nyoni, and we’ve not even talked about Phil Foden. You can throw him in there as well. We can’t discard him! 

They’re all good mates. Imagine if they could all play together. Say they took three number 10s and they’re all together, pushing each other and encouraging each other because they’re good mates. It’s an interesting dynamic compared to what we’ve had in the past.

Q: What’s the next step for Steven Gerrard in his managerial career?

EH: What’s the best club for Steven Gerrard to take on his next challenge? It’s a difficult question because I never foresaw Frank Lampard going to Coventry City and doing what he’s done.

Does Stevie take a similar route and think to himself, let me look at this project to push them on and build it, and build myself back up? Lampard is building himself back to where people are thinking he’s ready to go for another big job again, or the England job in the future, but you’ve got to be very, very careful.

Newcastle? Crystal Palace? Forest? Sunderland? You don’t want to be jumping into a Premier League side which looks good on paper but are struggling because you’ve got to remember the human side of things. 

Do you want to drop in on 25 players who are all down in the dumps? How are you going to pick them back up?

Most of them have got enough quality to get out of the problems they put themselves in, but you’ve got to try and get that out of them.

I would love to see him go for a top-half Championship side like Wrexham or Derby County, where you know he can go after promotion and build himself back up again.

Q: Can Alexander Isak and Nicolas Jackson take on Erling Haaland for the Golden Boot this year?

EH: The Golden Boot is Erling Haaland’s territory, at least for one more season. It’s his to throw away. If he gets injured or something else happens, then Alexander Isak and Nicolas Jackson have a chance, but otherwise Haaland is just a phenomenon. Put the ball in the box, give it to him in the right position, and he’s going to score goals. That’s all it is. Give it to him in the right position, and he’ll get you a goal. He’ll get you three goals, he’ll get you four goals, he’ll get you whatever you need.

The others will always be chasing him, but to be honest, I think that’s his award to claim as he wants, unless he gets injured. Next season is probably the best you’re going to get to take it off him, assuming Manchester City are relegated.

City have got enough money to just keep prolonging this saga for however long they want, so unless there’s a set date for the ruling and the punishments, they’re going to get this dragging out. Relegation, points deductions, transfer bans? It should be all of them. It could get very ugly for them.

Q: What have you made of the fallout between Aston Villa and Jamie Carragher?

EH: On Jamie Carragher, I think it was blown out of proportion a bit. The reality is the amount of abuse some of these pundits and co-commentators get, it’s like they can’t say a word, but you’re allowed to say anything you want at them. 

Look, what did he really say? He’s allowed that opinion, and this is the thing. If we all go to the pub, we’ve all got different opinions, and you’ve just got to accept it sometimes. Maybe the tone or the wording might have been better, but it’s his opinion, and by the way, his opinion’s not gospel.

Q: Is Nicolas Jackson proving the doubters wrong after leaving Chelsea for Aston Villa?

EH: Nicolas Jackson is flying for Aston Villa right when Chelsea are missing a striker, and that’s the best comeback, isn’t it? The best comeback is to show them, and you’ve got to remember what he was like for them.

I liked him at Chelsea. I thought he created a lot of chances. Don’t get me wrong, he missed a few as well, but his movement and his game created them. I’m not talking about someone creating for him, I’m talking about him personally, getting the ball, turning, dribbling, and shooting. He created a lot of chances for himself, so I quite liked him for that.

Yes, at times he probably was wasteful in the sense that, playing for a top-four team, you’ve got to be clinical, but he was still young, so for them to jump at the first sign of trouble and get rid of him, it’s credit to Jackson, in all honesty. He’s showing his maturity and showing where he is within football, coming back and showing people, I’m not losing this opportunity. I’m only going to get better and better.’

Q: Is Sir David Beckham the only hope for Manchester United to get rid of the Glazer family and INEOS after what he’s achieved at Inter Miami?

EH: David Beckham back to Manchester United as owner? Wouldn’t that be a great story? I’m sure through his friends and new business connections he could pull together the cash and the people he would need to make that happen too. The reality is that someone has to come in and pay the money to get the Glazers out and replace Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and Beckham can definitely find the backing to come in and make that happen.

Look at what happened at Liverpool with Hicks and Gillett. Manchester United need to find their version of Fenway Sports Group, and Beckham has got more than enough about him to go and do that, and when you look deeper into everything, you realize it’s a massive opportunity too.

It’s not always what you see on the surface. When you get beneath the skin of it, a club like Manchester United are an even bigger beast than anyone probably thinks of them right now, and I’m sure he could come in and get them back to the level they should be at.

Q: Would losing the Chelsea job make Liverpool think twice about appointing Xabi Alonso in the future given how it all fell apart for him at Real Madrid?

EH: If Xabi Alonso were to lose the Chelsea job, I don’t think it would hurt his chances of managing Liverpool one day.

The reality is that there’s not many managers who’ve come out of Chelsea not smelling of roses since Jose Mourinho. A load of them fell out with the owners. Enzo Maresca fell out with them, and he went and got the Manchester City job, so why couldn’t Alonso manage Liverpool? 

When you look at the way Chelsea play, it is exciting, so I don’t think you’d count him out because of the way managers come and go at Stamford Bridge.

Q: What now for Russell Martin and his predicament at Leicester City after what happened at Southampton and Rangers?

EH: Managers like Russell Martin are always able to turn it around, but the reality is that you’ve got to win games. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing 3-4-3 with overlapping, underlapping full-back and all this tactical jargon only to lose a game. If you play 4-4-2, leave it all up to the players, but you win the game, who cares if it was all down to your philosophy or the instructions you gave out to everyone?

I know we all want our teams to look good at times, but it’s about winning games, and this is not just for the manager, by the way. This is for the players too. It’s XI versus XI. You’ve got a one-on-one battle there, and you’ve got to win it, and when you’ve won your battle, go and help your mate win his battle as well. 

That’s what I was taught at Leicester City. We can all put it onto the manager, but once we cross that line, it’s me and you. It’s not him. He’s just stood there. He can’t really do much for us. It’s not just on him, it’s on the players as well, and that applies to clubs like Manchester United too.

I think United have lost a bit of that fear factor. Teams no longer fear them. They haven’t got that about them anymore. I think they’re losing a bit of that togetherness too, that fight, and that hunger to be the best and be better than anyone else, and you know what? I prefer it when Manchester United are actually doing well, because it gives everyone else a bit more hype. It gives the whole Premier League and the whole country a boost, to be honest.

Q: Another one of your former clubs, Wigan, are not having the best time in League One. Do you fear they could go down this season, or is it early days?

EH: I think it’s early days for Wigan this season. I would love to see them come up again because it’s a fantastic club with great people around it. I can’t see them going down, but they just need to have a proper fight to stay in the league.

Q: Should Celtic stick with Martin O’Neill despite their struggles at times this season?

EH: Martin O’Neill is a fantastic manager, and I’ll vouch for him wherever he goes, and he can pull things around. He’s a great man-manager. He’s got good coaches around him who can do the work on the training pitch to let him do his work, managing the personalities. I’m sure he can pull it back.

We can’t forget what he’s done before. When I say before, I’m talking back when I was playing too. They beat us to go to the UEFA Cup final. You can’t forget the stuff he’s done over such a long period of time, and you’ve got to give him an opportunity to pull himself out of the problems he’s in, but let’s not forget, they’re still top of the league! Most clubs would love these problems Celtic are facing this season.

Q: Now that he’s won the Ballon d’Or, will Harry Kane want to go and prove himself against Lamine Yamal and Rodri in this Spain fixture?

EH: The reality is he doesn’t need to prove anything against Spain. He’s got it. He’s done it. What he needs to do is continue to do what England needs him to do, which is to perform and score goals. That’s all he needs to do. He doesn’t need to show them anything else. He’s got it now. It’s his time. He’s won it.

Q: Can Harry Kane win the Ballon d’Or again in 2027 or could another English player step up to claim the prize?

EH: Jude Bellingham can definitely win the Ballon d’Or in 2027, but I think for Harry Kane it would be a big ask to go and win it again.

His win this year was coming off the back of all the goals and everything else he’s done over the last 12 months, so for him to win it again, England and Bayern Munich would have to win everything as well.

Q: Wayne Rooney said he thinks Kane is the greatest-ever striker. Would you put Kane up there, or do you think your old strike partner Michael Owen in his prime would give him a run for his money?

EH: Harry Kane or Michael Owen? Do you know what? The stats speak for themselves, so I’d put Kane up there. But if I was to put Michael in his prime against Kane in his prime, it’s difficult to separate them. I would probably sway more towards Michael because I played with him, and the way that he played, he was just dangerous in a different way.

With Kane, I don’t think anyone thinks, “God, I’m up against Kane, and he’s going to do this to me, do that to me”. They’re thinking he is going to score a goal today, and I’m going to try and figure out how to stop him doing that, and you might not be able to stop him, because he only needs a fraction of a second to get a shot off and get that goal. 

Michael, on the other hand, would take you on, drag you in, do all sorts to you as a defender, and Kane won’t really do that, but his finishing… I’d still put him up there as the best.

Q: At the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Michael Olise was beaming with joy for Kane. Did you feel something similar when Michael Owen won his Ballon d’Or? 

EH: It was a little bit different when Michael Owen won the Ballon d’Or because it wasn’t a huge thing for us in England back when he won it, to be honest with you. When he won it, it wasn’t massive for us. It’s only now, when you look back and see who else has won it, that it hits you. 

We played against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, and they had Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaká on the bench. They had four Ballon d’Or winners! It wasn’t until later on that you’re left thinking, OK, this is crazy. This is actually amazing what Michael was able to achieve.’

I think you’ve got to take your hat off to Kane. When Michael did it, Michael was 20 or 21, whereas Kane’s done it in his 30s, and you’ve got to remember, there’s this ageism within football. Anyone over a certain age can no longer do it, but players like Kane have shown us time and time again.

Even now, we’re already talking about who’s next for Kane, we’re already retiring him! Really, we should just be lauding everything that he’s done, and everything he is still to do.

Q: Will Lankshear is scoring freely at Middlesbrough, thirteen goals in thirteen games. Should Tuchel bring him into the squad to have a look at him?

EH: Thomas Tuchel needs to give Will Lankshear a call-up. I think that’s the key thing, bringing them into the group to understand what it means to be playing and training at that top level for England. 

If you look at most of our top English players, that’s where they’ve plied their trade too. You’ve got to remember, Kane himself sat on the bench for Leicester, he went to Millwall, he went to Norwich, Leyton Orient… so that’s where they ply their trade.

Players like Lankshear are the next ones who are going to take us to the next level, so bringing him into the training camp and getting him to train and understand what’s needed is very, very important. We did that at a very young age with the England Under-21s. A couple of us would go up, train with the first team, and then come back and play the games. You’ve got to understand the levels, the intensity, and everything.

Q: Do you think Lankshear is the standout, or are there other young English players in the EFL worth a look?

EH: I like Lankshear. Obviously you’ve got the likes of Liam Delap and players like that, but there’s also Divin Mubama. He doesn’t really play at Southampton, but he’s a lad who scores goals if you give him the opportunity. He scored at Stoke City, scored a ton at youth level, and for players like that, it’s just about getting more time in the EFL to build up your reputation and play games.

Q: Rumors linked Everton with a bid for Marcus Rashford. Does Rashford need to leave United for a club like Everton to get his joy back?

EH: I don’t know if a club like Everton would be right for Marcus Rashford. He probably needs to leave Manchester United. We saw what getting out of the UK did for him in Spain. Even though he was at Barcelona with all that talent to compete with, he dazzled, he won trophies, and got the smile back on his face. He probably needs to find that again, because you don’t just lose it. You don’t lose talent like that. We’ve seen hints of it in little cameos that he can still be a difference-maker. Bayern Munich? Napoli? It all comes down to which Champions League club can offer him the opportunity.

Q: Finally, looking back at it now, how do you feel about how KSI used you as a meme in building his own career as a creator?

EH: KSI and I have done a couple of skits, and we’ve done a couple of videos and things like that. He invites me to a couple of his shows and all that, but that’s it, really.

It’s fine. He was a young kid just doing what he was doing? To be honest, I actually knew nothing about it at the time.

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