England’s Roy Hodgson defends taking only three centre-backs to Euro 2016

Rashford, the 18-year-old Manchester United striker, has been rewarded for his impressive breakthrough at Old Trafford whe-reas Walcott has paid the price for a disappointing second half of the season at Arsenal. Defoe has been unable to play himself back into Hodgson’s plans despite scoring 15 goals to help save Sunderland f-rom relegation.

Jack Wilshere has been called up despite having started only one league game all season, with Hodgson describing the fit-again Arsenal midfielder as a “special player”. Andros Townsend has also been included on the back of Danny Welbeck being ruled out with a long-term knee injury. Michael Carrick and Leighton Baines are among the absentees and Hodgson rang Phil Jagielka on Sunday night to explain he was going to risk going through the tournament with three centre-backs.

While Jagielka contemplates what will almost certainly be the end of his Englandcareer, Hodgson will place his trust in Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill, with John Stones as first reserve despite a difficult season at Everton in which he has struggled for form and frequently been left out of the side.

Hodgson was breaking f-rom his usual practice, having named four centre-backs in England’s previous two tournaments, but the manager was adamant it made sense because it freed up the possibility to take another midfielder or attacker.

“Eric Dier can, if necessary, step back and play there,” Hodgson said. “That was his original position. He spent most of his career playing centre-back before he moved into central midfield. Any time you ask someone to move whe-re they have not necessarily been playing on a regular basis is a bit of an ask, but how much cover can you get? Take the last World Cup when the Germans had two centre-backs who played every game. We have at least three, and potentially four. How much cover can you actually take?”