‘I’ll take that back, shall I?’ – Roy Hodgson on his statement that Marc Guehi can be future England captain
Roy Hodgson is keen to take back his statement about Marc Guehi being a potential future England captain – but that has nothing to do with him having any less admiration for the Crystal Palace defender.
Hodgson, who managed the Three Lions, made the comment after the 2-1 win over Leicester City last weekend.
Guehi was one of Palace’s standout performers last season, his first in SE25 after moving across the capital from Chelsea.
The 22-year-old has been part of England squads since joining the Eagles although he missed the cut for Gareth Southgate’s squad to go to the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year.
Asked about his comment that Guehi had the capability to pull on the armband for his national team, Hodgson said: “I’ll take that back, shall I? I’ll tell you why I take it back. I was England manager for four years and it used to drive me crazy when managers gave their players an extra pat on the back by saying they should play for England.
“It would not surprise me, with the guy’s quality. But let’s just let him play football first and continue being a top, top Premier League player at Crystal Palace. Lets see how long that lasts. Lets see when his first England matches take place and go on from there.
“I’m sorry Marc, I shouldn’t have given you that little pat on the back which I gave, by suggesting England captaincy!
“His maturity has impressed me. It did when he was (on loan) at Swansea and we were hoping we could sign him. Doug (Freedman) and I were watching him. He’s an intelligent player who thinks a lot about his game.
“He is anxious to become better all the time. He’s not satisfied with making the leap he has made since leaving Chelsea. He wants more than that. That’s a big positive that speaks in his favour.
“Just in general terms he looks like a centre-back who has got a lot of qualities – he’s got pace, he understands and likes to defend. He is good on the ball. If you’re ticking boxes of what I like my centre-back to look like, he ticks so many boxes. Now it is up to him, with the help he’ll get from the guys around him, to keep building on that.
“His first couple of seasons at Crystal Palace have been a massive success. He’s got to keep that going and hope to even keep adding a little bit more each year. The first thing he has got to do is help save us from relegation and then maybe think ‘how do I go from being in the England set-up as a member of the group, how do I go about getting in the team and knocking one of those guys off their perch?’ That should be his target.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
