WHEN Graeme Souness was routinely asked about a possible successor to Alan Shearer, the former Newcastle boss would claim it was impossible to replace the irreplaceable.

Shearer, he would claim, was a total one-off, a player so unique it was senseless even to countenance signing a like-for-like replacement.

In many ways, Souness was right. Shearer has been the greatest English centre-forward of his generation and his tally of 202 goals from 399 appearances in a black-and-white shirt stands testament to both his incredible ability and his unwavering commitment.

Yet, at the same time, the Scot was wrong to claim that football has changed so dramatically that the striker's style of play no longer has a place in the modern game.

To Souness, a powerful, predatory striker, adept at both holding up the ball with his back to goal and snaffling chances inside the six-yard box, is anathema to the direction in which football has headed.

"We will never see Alan's like again," he said, shortly before being dismissed at St James' Park. Already, those who watch their football at Upton Park are begging to disagree.

West Ham's Dean Ashton might not be the finished article but he is rapidly emerging as a centre-forward of tremendous talent. He is also drawing inevitable comparisons to a certain number nine.

It might be akin to heresy to suggest it while Newcastle's captain is still to hang up his boots, but Ashton could eventually be the successor to his crown. English football could have found its new Alan Shearer - the King will soon be dead, so long live the King.

In many ways, the most startling thing about Ashton's emergence is that is has taken so long to happen.

At the end of last season, the 22-year-old scored seven goals in 16 games as Norwich battled gamely against the drop. He only signed in January, yet he still finished the season as the Canaries' joint-leading scorer.

After displaying maturity beyond his years and an undisguised relish for the rough-and-tumble of Premiership life, Ashton seemed certain to leave Carrow Road in the summer.

Yet, despite his goalscoring achievements, the country's top-flight clubs were reluctant to sign a striker whose rough-edged style seemed to hark back to football's less-enlightened past.

Liverpool plumped for Peter Crouch instead, Charlton sniffed around before signing Darren Bent and Newcastle, despite their obvious need for a long-term successor to Shearer, shelled out £16m for Michael Owen.

No-one is doubting Owen's obvious ability, but how they could live to regret not having had the foresight to add Ashton to their ranks as well. He would certainly have been a far better use of the £10m that was wasted on Albert Luque.

Instead, though, the former Crewe trainee began the season with Norwich, before eventually making a £7.25m switch to West Ham in January.

At first, eyebrows were raised at the size of the fee, with even Hammers boss Alan Pardew questioning whether Ashton would ever be able to live up to the expectations that would inevitably be heaped upon him. It is difficult to find anyone asking those sort of questions now.

The Swindon-born striker has been a revelation in the East End, with his goals carrying West Ham into the semi-finals of the FA Cup and maintaining their outside chance of qualification for Europe via a top-seven finish.

His five goals in seven games have already repaid a sizeable chunk of his multi-million pound fee, but it has been the dominance of Ashton's performances that has done most to make observers sit up and take note.

The physical frontman has terrorised some of the best defenders in the land, making his presence felt in the kind of buccaneering fashion that was supposed to be the sole preserve of Shearer.

His flourishing has almost certainly come too late to earn him a call-up to the World Cup squad but, while Crouch is currently England's target-man of choice, Ashton will surely eventually come to the fore. He has already assumed Shearer's mantle as an old-fashioned striker able to prosper in the modern age.

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