Roy Hodgson says that he has not closed the door on a return to international football for striker Andy Carroll, who has been suffering for form and fitness ever since completing a permanent move to West Ham United.

The national team is currently rich with a long list of top strikers. The likes of Charlie Austin have also been knocking the door, which makes it extremely difficult for Carroll to return to the national team. The 26-year-old has managed only seven goals in the last two seasons. This form is not sufficient for him to be selected for the England team.

The national team is at a crucial stage whereby Hodgson has to come up with a strong team capable of winning the Euro 2016 or even reaching the latter stages. Doing well in this competition is extremely important for the national team due to their disappointing World Cup. England have had a strong set of results since the qualification campaign started. This, again, makes it difficult for Hodgson to bring the changes in the team. The former Liverpool striker has managed to appear in nine internationals for England, but he has managed only two goals in these matches. His last goal for England was in 2012.

“I don’t close doors. We have had Rickie Lambert do a very good job for us as that type of player and there is [Charlie] Austin, too.I’m not going to hang myself by saying, ‘Unless you are a certain type of forward, there is no chance for you’ because, in a squad of players, sometimes there is.And if Andy can catch up then everyone knows what a handful he is as a player. Then who knows? He could quite easily become a player we look at. I can only hope that he can recover from his injury problems,” said Hodgson.