Harry Kane's presence in the England under-21 side could be decisive against Portugal in their European Under-21 Championship opener on Thursday, according to head coach Gareth Southgate.
Kane is set to start up front for England when they take on Portugal in Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic, as they begin their Group B campaign -- with Sweden and Italy still to come.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker scored 21 Premier League goals last season, and Southgate said he will "hopefully" instil a fear factor.
Southgate said: "He wasn't with us in March and he comes back now and you can see his confidence, you can see his finishing ability.
"He has gone mentally up another step. When you haven't worked with him for a while you forget his real quality. It's a good moment for several of the players.
"I don't think anyone could envisage the level of the strides he has made."
England's attacking lineup includes Saido Berahino, Danny Ings as well as Kane, and Southgate is excited by their potential.
"I think they are as good as anything," he said. "You are always looking at the opposition and setting yourselves up to counter what they do.
"But you are also wondering 'what are they thinking about us?'
"And if we think our strikers are exciting to work with I am sure other teams are thinking the same.
"You can see the opposition is sometimes too frightened to attack because of our threat going the other way -- and that is a great asset for us to have."
Meanwhile, John Stones' suspected concussion has forced Southgate into a defensive rethink.
Southgate confirmed the defender, capped four times at senior level, has suspected concussion, ruling him out of the Portugal match and Sunday's clash with Sweden.
"It was just a collision in training," he said. "It came completely out of the blue.
"It was with Jack [Butland], we were just practicing set-plays. We've said all along you have got to be prepared for setbacks and dealing with unexpected events and this is one of those.
"It's happened to a few teams. I know of a couple of others who have lost players already.
"What is good is that throughout qualifying we have always used this squad and we have been forced to make changes.
"It means we can trust everybody who goes in and everybody is ready to play. That is the important thing."
Middlesbrough's Ben Gibson looks likely to be the beneficiary of Stones' unfortunate setback, with Football Association guidelines saying a player should not be allowed to return for at least six days after the incident.
"We have to follow the new guidelines on suspected concussion and it is quite a clear procedure that will take him to the day after the second game," Southgate said.
"There is just nothing we can do about that."