Roy Hodgson calms clamour for Jamie Vardy to take England’s centre stage

Jamie Vardy has scored 11 goals so far this season, adding to the case for him getting a run up front for England.

Roy Hodgson has told Jamie Vardy to ignore those urging for him to start in his preferred central position and has said the 28-year-old will have to earn his spurs wherever he is asked to play for England.

The Leicester City striker, the Premier League’s top scorer, has played on the left in the two internationals he has started for his country. His run of goals in the Premier League has led to calls for him to start in the middle for England, but Hodgson was quick to state that Vardy should be pleased to make the squad for the upcoming friendlies against Spain and France regardless of where he plays.

The manager, unveiling a squad that includes the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier for the first time, said: "I think Jamie Vardy can play in any of the front three positions. Jamie has only played a couple of games from the start, he should be happy at the moment a) to be in the squad and b) even happier if he makes the team."

Leicester’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is among those to have said Vardy, who has scored 11 goals this season, has earned an opportunity to start as a central striker. “He definitely deserves his chance to play for England down the middle and not on the left like he has been doing,” Schmeichel said. “He drags us through and sets the tone every single game. When you have a player like that, he is a dream to play with.”

But Hodgson said Vardy, who has four caps, should attempt to succeed wherever he is chosen to play. "His job I think should be definitely to try and convince that he has got the ability to play as a forward in an England team and not get too hung up like some people if he only plays ‘here’," he said.

The England manager, without nine potential squad members through injury, said he picked his side based on ability not on what "the mass media or social media say". He added: "I am just trying as I sometimes try to do, always unsuccessfully, to defuse hype and to make one very important point, which is very, very obvious that an England shirt is a very valuable commodity.

"When you have only played two games you are in no position to go to the coach and say: ‘I will play for England but only in this position.’ That is the point I am trying to make."

Alongside the captain Wayne Rooney and the Spurs centre-forward Harry Kane, Vardy is one of only three recognised strikers in the squad for the matches in Spain on Friday 13 November and at Wembley against France the following Tuesday.

Hodgson also paid tribute to the 21-year-old Dier, who has been selected as a defensive midfielder after impressing in that position for Spurs this season. "We do need someone that can support Michael Carrick or cover Michael Carrick and I think looking at the Premier League​ at the moment, Eric is a player who interests me most, especially in terms of his future development," Hodgson said. "He is a central defender who is capable of stepping forward and doing a good defensive job in the centre of midfield to allow other players around him to maybe show off their more extravagant talents."

Dier’s club-mate Dele Alli, who made his debut in September, is also included rather than dropping back to the Under-21s. Hodgson hailed Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham head coach, for trusting young English talent.

"One thing they’re definitely doing is that when they get talented players coming through their academy they give them a chance and put them in the first team and they’re prepared to accept that the players they’re putting in won’t have the experience," he said.

“The only way you can get the experience is by playing and you will never be an experienced player if you don’t get the chance to play games.”

Hodgson also expanded on his plan for the side to play games on the road in the run up to the European Championships in an attempt to connect with fans around the country.

The idea is still at an early stage and has yet to be signed off but is likely to involve playing at least one match in the north before returning to Wembley for the final friendly before the tournament.

"It’s a dangerous thing to talk about because it’s embryonic," Hodgson said. “But I will give you two very obvious advantages. It will give a lot of people in England, around the country who don’t get a chance to get to Wembley the chance to see us play.

"And the chance to interact with some of the communities, possibly the schools, local youth clubs, maybe invite them to watch us train, a simple thing like that. I would like to take England to an audience that maybe only otherwise get to see us on television."