Everton defender Phil Jagielka has insisted that he will be able to focus on playing for England ahead of this week's international friendly double.

Roy Hodgson's side face the Republic of Ireland at Wembley tomorrow night before travelling to Brazil for a marquee friendly on Saturday.

Newly-appointed Everton captain Jagielka is adamant that uncertainty surrounding the vacant managerial post at Goodison Park will not affect his performances for the Three Lions.

He told The Sun: "I will be able to put it to the back of the mind, definitely. We all knew the situation. It wasn't sprung upon us because we had a couple of games to deal with it towards the end of the season when we knew the manager was leaving.

"I thought as a team and as a club we sorted it really well and gave the manager a great send off. We got over it in the course of those few weeks and I am away with England now so i will look forward to these two games.

"I'm not really thinking about Everton until we report back in July and hopefully by then we will have a manager sorted and we will see where it takes us from there."

The 30-year-old has also declared that he plans to stay with the Toffees next season despite reported interest from former boss David Moyes at Manchester United.