Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the reason for the relegation of the English center forwards

England's difficulties in competing with Harry Kane have been attributed to the GOATS of football: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

That's according to the former Three Lions star. The Fernandoswho highlighted the influence of both on the next generation of forwards.

Kane has been an ever-present figure in England's attack since his international debut in 2015.

In recent years Gareth Southgate have tried and failed with several different options to find the Bayern Munich superstar either a partner or a capable substitute in his absence.

Aston Villa hitman Olivia Watkins become the last to fail hearing having fought in England's 1-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday.

Watkins played his first full 90 minutes at Wembley but failed to find the net and only managed one shot in a difficult display.

By contrast, England have plenty of options to choose from in wide areas and Ferdinand believes this is a trickle-down effect from seeing two of the best.

Both ronaldo and Messi They debuted as teenagers on the right wing before the sheer volume of their goals forced them to go deep.

Fernando was Queens Park Ranger'former director of football and has seen young English talents try to follow the same evolution.

The former Tottenham striker encountered the opposite problem in his heyday, amassing just 17 England caps in five years.

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Ferdinand was called up for both Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup, but was unable to play a single minute due to the depth of his talent as a forward.

The 57-year-old was part of an all-star line-up of the '90s alongside michael owen, Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley, Teddy Sheringham, Ian Wright, Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, Stan Collymore, Chris Suttonand Dion Dublin.

While appearing on the Overlap podcast with Gary NevilleFerdinand shed light on why England don't have the same depth.

When asked what has happened to the English striker, he replied: “Ronaldo and Messi.

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“We went through a time of wingers who scored goals, scored 30 goals a season and everyone wanted to be Ronaldo and everyone wanted to be Messi.

“The players no longer wanted to be a traditional center forward, they didn't want to be the number nine.

“(Thierry) Henry comes into the picture, they want to be that person who comes out on the wing and scores goals.

“They were scoring a lot of goals, so all the young players wanted to be that player from there was the disappearance of the number nine.”