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Only eight English strikers have featured in the Premier League this season, and 22-year-old Chelsea striker Liam Delap is the only one under 26.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins performed well as Kane’s deputy at Euro 2024, as his semi-final goal helped England reach the final.
However, he was rested from that team to manage an ongoing issue.
“We talk about how many games the players are playing now,” Rooney said. “We’ve had an opportunity where we don’t need to see Kane and rest him.
“Kane shouldn’t play for England again until the World Cup. We don’t need to see him, we know what he can do.”
Both Rooney and Heskey feel that the apparent lack of strikers is a sign of the way the game is going, not just in England but globally.
“I think it’s because they don’t want to play with the number nine now the way the game is going,” Rooney said.
“If you look around the world, you don’t find a lot of nines, so it’s not just England.”
He added: “Everyone wants to be Mohamed Salah or Lionel Messi, and playing as a striker now does not touch the ball much, and you have to be tough like Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.”
“There’s no number nine there, even Ken isn’t number nine.”
Heskey’s sons, Regan and Jaden, are strikers and made their first-team debut for Manchester City in September, in the Carabao Cup.
“The strikers had to be more involved when we were playing,” added Heskey, 47. “You had to chase things down the channel, you had to win the extra clicks.
“Now your No. 8 duo is doing more, your wings are so wide, you don’t have to get involved as much now.”
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