The prolific Serie A striker playing himself onto England’s World Cup radar | OneFootball

“I cannot rule out that we go with one striker, but it’s more likely we have more than one classic number nine,” said Thomas Tuchel in November.

It remains unclear as to who will carry Harry Kane’s bags and shine his shoes in the States this summer.

The England captain has missed just 200 minutes of his German manager’s reign, with those opportunities divvied out to and largely spurned by Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney.

With the exception of Toney, who might soon be preoccupied seeking out medical assistance for he simply Can’t Stop Scoring in Saudi Arabia, there is an Englishman currently outperforming everyone else in a league of actual relevance.

Only Lautaro Martinez (14) is higher on a Serie A 2025-26 top scorer list, which resembles those from the rugged, defensively resolute 1980s when the Capocannoniere barely scraped into double figures.

And Keinan Davis (9) is behind just Kane (30), the blacklisted Mason Greenwood (15) and ghosts of major tournament back-up past in both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Welbeck (ten each) for league goals scored by an Englishman in the world’s top 15 leagues this season.

It will not lead to the most unexpected of England World Cup squad places unless Tuchel picks up the phone post haste; Davis can already “see myself playing for” Jamaica and is “in the process of sorting out a passport”.

But it is a testament to the courage of a player who rejected the well-trodden career path in search of something greater when the time came to branch out.

Davis rejected the man-aging process of Liam Rosenior and Hull City, as well as other Championship options in Stoke, Birmingham and Swansea after second-tier loan spells with Nottingham Forest and Watford, to bet on himself at Udinese in 2023.

And it was as Beto’s replacement that he arrived: a £2m successor to a striker Everton had signed for more than ten times as much.

Having recently suggested that Udinese have “the know-how” when it comes to developing forwards, Davis has provided compelling proof in his Villa-flavoured partnership with Nicolo Zaniolo.

Two injury-prone seasons delivered four goals in 33 games, the first of which saved Le Zebrette from Serie A relegation.

Then this campaign has witnessed an explosion of sorts: nine strikes in 24 matches, including a penalty in a man-of-the-match display at the San Siro.

With more league goals in 2026 than actually viable England options in Watkins, Rashford, Liam Delap, Dominic Solanke and Anthony Gordon, it does feel as though there could have been an in-form Plan B to call upon if the circumstances were slightly different.

Udinese manager Kosta Runjaic has described Davis as “a modern striker” who “has everything”.

The player himself, unsurprisingly for an Arsenal fan, believes he “brings that physical side to Serie A” but “the tactical side is where I have improved the most”.

John Terry did not rank Davis among his five toughest Premier League opponents but called him “a nightmare to play against in training” at Villa.

For Davis to not only realise but maximise that potential in Italy and likely soon for Jamaica is perhaps a shame for England, but also a remarkable and entirely unpredictable triumph of perseverance and self-belief.