England manager Roy Hodgson wishes that Chelsea skipper John Terry hadn't retired from international football.

Terry drew the curtain on his international career in 2012 on the eve of the FA hearing into allegations that he used racist language against Anton Ferdinand.

But with his current defensive setup, Hodgson believes the ageing veteran would be a godsend in his Euro2016 squad.

Hodgson said: "I had a long chat with John the other day — he's a very nice guy.

"It's a fact of life there are, in my opinion, no left-sided centre-backs who are English playing in the league who are at least at the level of the ones we are choosing.

"That's a fact of life and there's not much we can do about it.

"There is nothing I can do about that unless suddenly in the next five weeks some brilliant English left-sided centre-back suddenly appears on the scene — and I don't anticipate that."

When asked about a shock recall for the 35-year-old, Hodgson added: "Who knows what could happen?

"I'm not 100 per cent sure — outside of John Terry — that there are too many left-sided centre-halves.

"Because he's retired so long ago, he doesn't feature in my thinking too often, but I can't deny that is a valid point.

"John is a left-sided centre-half, although he's not a left-sided player. He is right-footed."