Head coach of the English team, Roy Hodgson, has downplayed the chances of West Ham striker Andy Carroll featuring for the Three Lions in the Euro tournament in France this summer.
The striker has been linked with a call to the English final squad due to make France later in the year due to his recent performance for The Hammers.

Andy Carroll has seven goals in 26 appearances for West Ham this season. The 27-year old striker received wide acclaim for his superior aerial strength that helped him put three goals at the back of the net in the crucial encounter against The Gunners.

“Every time someone scores a goal and he’s English it is ‘why is he not playing for England?’

“I’m certainly not going to pick him on the basis that he scored a hat-trick, so therefore has to be in the England team,” Hodgson said.

Carroll has not played for the national team since October 2012. He has two goals credited to him from nine appearances.

The first team squad selection has almost been sealed with Tottenham’s Harry Kane, the Premier League’s top-scorer with 24 goals this season, and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy with 22 goals, as established forwards. With options in Arsenal strikers Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott, Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge and even captain Wayne Rooney billed to return, there is just little room for Carroll.

The former Newcastle and Liverpool forward would not see action this summer based on Hodgson’s recent comments, despite his aerial strength.

“We know Andy, we know his qualities.

“In an ideal world, if you had a lot of places at your disposal, you’d always include a guy like him because he is exceptional in the air – but whether or not I’d be able to include him with all these others, I don’t know,” Hodgson added.