Dan Ashworth thinks Harry Kane will become an even better striker if he plays for England at the European Under-21 Championship this summer.
Two years ago Kane was going through a miserable loan spell at Norwich, but given his recent form, it would not be a surprise if he scored the winner for Tottenham in the Capital One Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday.
Kane has scored 24 goals for Spurs this term and is almost certain to earn his first senior England call-up in three weeks' time.
This June England's youngsters travel to the Czech Republic for the Under-21 championships.
Seniors manager Roy Hodgson has told Under-21 coach Gareth Southgate he can pick any eligible senior player and Ashworth thinks Kane would profit from the experience of playing in the youth tournament -- even though he is likely to be a full international by then.
"It's the best eight teams in Europe, and it's the next big international tournament to a senior one," said FA technical director Ashworth.
"There are pressures, there are challenges of international football that can't always be replicated in club football and it's the nearest thing he's going to get to hopefully going on and winning something for England seniors as well. It would be immensely beneficial for him and any other player going.
"I'm sure Gareth would love to have him going with the 21s."
Kane has been a regular in Southgate's team since he took over from Stuart Pearce as Young Lions coach.
Pearce left his post after guiding the team through a dismal Euros two years ago.
England lost all three group stage matches and failed to score from open play.
Ashworth is optimistic about the team's chances of success this time around though, thanks partly to Kane's form and that of Saido Berahino, who topped the scoring charts in qualifying with 10 goals in 10 appearances.
Several senior players like Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers and Phil Jones are also eligible for selection, but Ashworth concedes Southgate will have to take a pragmatic approach to squad selection.
"It's our duty as a national association to try and get our best players and most appropriate players to go to every single tournament," said Ashworth, who was West Brom technical director before joining the Football Association.
"We want to win it. That's important to me and it's important to us.
"That's not necessarily at the expense of ruining a relationship with a club or a player that's played consecutively for three successive seasons and has never had a summer break."