Roy Hodgson has warned Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge

Roy Hodgson has warned Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge that he cannot expect to walk straight back into the team after a long spell on the sidelines.

The England boss has been criticised for providing international caps for a number of players during their Euro 2016 qualification campaign. He has already used more than 30 players in this qualification campaign, which has seen England become extremely successful. One player who has missed a major chunk is striker Sturridge, who recently returned to action for Liverpool. The 26-year-old has played in only three league matches so far.

As a result, other players may question the reason behind including the 26-year-old. Other players like Andy Carroll and Harry Kane have made a name for themselves during this period. Sturridge has been recalled to the Liverpool team without any doubt, as he remains one of the key centre forwards in the Merseyside outfit. It is a totally different case with the England national team. Especially given that the team has completed qualification for Euro 2016, Hodgson is likely to experiment with a few players in order to be completely ready for the major tournament. He Sturridge must start scoring goals in order to prove himself that he is ready once again.

“It would be ridiculous to say at the moment anyone is number one.For Daniel, we haven’t seen him for well over a year.I’m not prepared at the moment to say Daniel’s number one or Rooney’s number one or Kane’s number one. Everyone is in competition. I’m delighted Daniel is back fit and playing.I know, he knows and Liverpool know that there is a bit of work for him to do because he hasn’t been back for such a long time and even when you regain fitness,” said the England manager.