Sven-Goran Eriksson's preferred choice as partner to Michael Owen up front, Heskey has pace and strength in abundance.
Eyebrows were raised when Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier shelled out £11m to prise him from Leicester in March 2000.
Easy to forget that he is still only 24 years old, he already has bags of experience behind him.
Hardly prolific in front of goal his strength to the team lies in the way that he can hold the ball up and draw defenders out leaving space behind him for Owen to exploit.
He is sometimes used as a makeshift answer to England's left-sided problem - although he is not a natural in that position as his performance against Sweden in England's opening game of the World Cup demonstrated.