The 32-year-old John Terry, chose to retire from international football after being found guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during a match against Queens Park Rangers in 2011. Terry said that his position to play for the national team became ‘untenable’ since sessions in court had already acquitted him of all charges before FA began their own enquiry and charged him with using racist language.

During that time, England have successfully qualified for the 2014 World Cup after topping their qualifying group ahead of Ukraine and Montenegro. They achieved the feat without both John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, who have been the first-choice pairing for England for quite a few years.

Ferdinand chose to retire due to injury concerns this past summer and that opened the gap for quite a few English defenders to fill the void left behind by the United centre-back as well as Terry.

Chelsea’s Gary Cahill and Everton’s Phil Jagielka are the current first-choice centre-back pairing for England but both lack experience of playing in big tournaments. The Three Lions still lack a defender who can instil fear in the opposition and many perceive England’s defence to be a weak point heading into Brazil.

One of those critics is former England international Ray Wilkins, who has urged Terry to come out of international exile and go to Brazil. According to Dailymail, the former coach of Terry believes that the centre-half is still one of the best defenders in the country and should represent England next year in Brazil.

When asked whether Terry should reconsider his decision to retire from international football, Wilkins said, “Yes I do. John is still the best centre-half we have in the country. John has always been criticised for not having the blistering pace that someone like Rio Ferdinand has, but he reads the game so well.”

“He’s playing very well this year,” he added. “He has that presence whenever he plays, centre-half is a specialist position. If you look beyond Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill, we’re trying Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, and I think you need to be a specialist centre-half to play at that level.”

Do you think England need Terry in their ranks to be successful at next year’s World Cup or does the Premier League have enough talent to cope without the former England captain?