Chelsea captain John Terry insists he wasn't fit enough for England's defeat to Croatia last week.

He said: "I feel fine now, a bit sharper after two games and it is great to be back. I had a few conversations with a few people - the manager and the medical staff at England and Chelsea.

"But it was four and a half weeks after my operation and I had only done a bit of running on my own at the training ground, trained with the youth team and then went over to England, so it was probably about a day's full training.

"Going into a game like that I wouldn't have done the lads any favours at all. I would always play if I am asked but you have to think of the bigger picture and if I had to come off after 50 or 60 minutes because of the injury then I would have been no good to anybody.

"It is different if you are an attacking player. Maybe the boss would have stuck me on the bench if it was Wayne Rooney but there was not much I could have brought to the game late on.

"I had long conversations with Steve McClaren and wanted to be part of it. I was very close."