Everton defender Sylvain Distin has told teammate Leon Osman not to give up hope of being called up for England one day.

The 31-year-old has enjoyed a terrific start to the season for the Toffees but still missed out on a place in Roy Hodgson's squad.

However, Distin insists that Osman must keep trying and that he may well earn a call-up at some point in his career.

"In football it's a case of one guy deciding if you play or not," said Distin. "Tomorrow it can be a new manager and you go from being on the bench to being captain. Maybe they just don't like the way you play or simply prefer another player.

"All Ossie can do is keep doing what he has done so far and keep working hard and his chance might come – but there's a lot of things in football that you can't and never will be able to control. You can often wonder 'Why him, not me?' but there's no point wasting your time thinking about it.

"We all want to play for our country but sometimes we're not in the right time or the right place, and you just have to make sure you don't have any regrets."

Distin has never been capped by France.