Gary Lineker: Absence of Chelsea’s John Terry at the World Cup will hurt England

John Terry in his day as skipper of the England team

Former England striker Gary Lineker believes John Terry’s absence at this summers World Cup will deeply hurt the Three Lions in their quest for glory.

Terry retired from international football after a fall-out with the Football Association in 2012 following the Chelsea captain being found guilty of racist abuse.

Terry has gone on to excel for his club and has become a mainstay under the return of Jose Mourinho in west London. The 33-year-old helped Chelsea maintain the best defensive record in the Premier League and there were calls for Roy Hodgson to tempt Terry out of retirement for this summer.

Terry has formed a formidable partnership alongisde Cahill at Chelsea and it was hoped that the pair could replicate that bond on the world stage, however, Cahill will line-up with Phi Jagielka when England take on Italy in the opening World Cup game.

Terry will be a huge miss according to Gary Lineker has followed Tony Adams and said his presence would have been a huge boost.

Lineker said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt that the best partner for [Gary] Cahill would have been John Terry … but John Terry wasn’t called in.

“The back up in that particular area is either [Chris] Smalling or [Phil] Jones, now both of those players of course have struggled this season at Manchester United.

“So you’ve not really got that much consistency in that position – it’s the one area of the team which is a concern.”