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.