Roy Hodgson: 'England miss John Terry'

By Liam Apicella, Features Editor | 31 March 2016

Roy Hodgson confesses that England still miss the influence of Chelsea captain John Terry, who retired from international football in 2012.

England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that his side misses John Terry's presence at the heart of the defence.

Thirty-five-year-old Terry called time on his international career in 2012 in the wake of his race row with Anton Ferdinand.

Since then, Hodgson has found it tough to find a player that is capable of filling in on the left-hand side of the defence to the same standards that Terry had previously set.

When asked by reporters if Terry would still have a role to play within his squad if he were to make himself available for selection, Hodgson replied: "Yes, who knows? Because he retired so long ago he doesn't feature in my thinking too often but I can't deny that is a valid point. He is a left-sided centre-half.

"There are, in my opinion, no left-sided centre-backs who are English and playing in the Premier League who are at least at the level of the ones we are choosing. That's a fact of life and there is not much we can do about it.

"We haven't got the left-sided one but there is nothing I can do about that unless suddenly in the next five weeks some brilliant English left-sided centre-back appears on the scene, and I don't anticipate that."

Chelsea skipper Terry made 78 appearances for the Three Lions, from which he scored six goals.