It would be fair to say there has been plenty of talk about England’s defensive situation over the past few days, following John Terry’s surprise decision to announce his retirement from international football. However, Spurs assistant manager Steffen Freund says he doesn’t know what all the fuss is about and claims that young defender Steven Caulker is the ideal replacement for the Chelsea centre-half.

On the eve of his FA hearing about the alleged racist abuse of Anton Ferdinand, Terry shocked the football world by announcing that he would not be wearing the England jersey ever again. Considering his presence in the team over the years, many people started to worry which direction England would turn and wondered just who had it in them to replace the 31-year-old.

Freund claims that Roy Hodgson should look no further than White Hart Lane though. Speaking to the media, the German claimed that Caulker has all of the attributes to succeed at the highest level and actually plays very similar to Terry. He said, “He is similar [to Terry]. He has already been called up for the national side and he’s definitely one of best centre halves in England. He is like a rock in the defence, he’s very tall and strong, and is difficult to beat in a one-on-one situation. He’s very talented and wants to improve every game. John Terry was a great centre-half for England, everyone appreciates that, but Steven Caulker is maybe one for the future.”

Such comments may perhaps arrive prematurely, with Caulker managing to make just one top flight appearance this term after coming off the bench in the most recent game against QPR. However, there’s no doubt that hopes are certainly very high on the 20-year-old, after he enjoyed a hugely productive campaign at Swansea last term.