England manager Roy Hodgson has defended his decision to include only three specialist centre-backs in his preliminary 26-man squad for Euro 2016, saying that Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier can move back into defence if needed.
Everton centre-back Phil Jagielka was a notable omission from Hodgson's squad as the England manager selected 11 midfielders and just seven defenders, prioritising giving Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson an opportunity to prove their fitness after injuries.
But Hodgson has said he is not worried about leaving himself short of defensive options, and believes that Dier's versatility will provide adequate cover.
"Eric Dier can, if necessary, step back and play there," Hodgson said. "That was his original position. He spent most of his career playing centre-back before he moved into central midfield.
"Any time you ask someone to move where they have not necessarily been playing on a regular basis is a bit of an ask, but how much cover can you get? Take the last World Cup when the Germans had two centre-backs who played every game. We have at least three, and potentially four. How much cover can you actually take?"
Hodgson does, however, accept that England's current defensive options do not match the days when John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher and Sol Campbell were all available for selection, and wants the Football Association to investigate the particular shortage of left-sided centre-backs.
"I wouldn't call it a crisis," he added, "but the four players mentioned were each top-class players and I'm not going to disagree that we haven't got those resources at our disposal today, albeit I do believe Cahill, Smalling and Stones are good centre-backs.
"Why are we not producing more centre-backs is a good question. It is something that we at the FA should think about. We should really start targeting certain areas and left-sided centre-backs in particular because there are no real left-sided centre-backs around in the way there are in a lot of countries.
"Maybe that's something to think about when we're picking our under-21s, U20s and U19s and hopefully we can develop somebody. But you are always at the mercy of the clubs. They choose the players."