Caulker for England

From Vital Spurs...

This time last year I predicted that Kyle Walker would make the England squad for the European Championships and now I predict that Steven Caulker will also be a squad regular before the season ends.

Stefan Freund has suggested that 20 year old Caulker could be an ideal future replacement for John Terry, but I have a feeling that the future might not be too far ahead. Many will dismiss Caulker because he is still so young and has only had a season in the Premiership, but how old and experienced were Chris Smalling and Phil Jones when they got their first caps?

Though Rio Ferdinand has thrown his designer hat into the ring to replace Terry, but we have to question the wisdom of selecting a player that has consistently struggled with injury in recent years and will also be thirty-five if and when we reach Brazil. Looking beyond Joleon Lescott, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka, there aren't too many outstanding experienced candidates to step in and both Jones and Smelling have had their own struggles with injury and is it certain that in the future, their best positions will be in central defence, particularly Jones who may well find himself in a DCM role.

Caulker may be young, but he already has over a hundred league appearances behind him and has always found whatever step up he has had to make look effortless, including starting every game for the Great Britain Olympic team, despite initially probably only being seen as back up to more experienced players, to become one of the finds of the tournament.

In fairness to all of Cahill, Lescott and Jagielka, they are all decent centre backs, but they are decent without being outstanding. In Caulker and equally Jones and Smalling, I feel we have three defenders that can and probably will be better technically, but also have a steel to handle playing at the very highest level for club and country. Perhaps I am biased, but I don't see any of those players being better central defensive prospects than our man and I believe he will prove his worth in the next few months.

In terms of defensive balance, I really like the prospect of pairing the rock solid Caulker alongside the smaller and mobile Jones. They may lack experience today, but with games for club and country, I believe both have the potential to be our Terry and Ferdinand of the next decade. Caulker is not only a very good player, but he appears to have a rock solid character to go with his ability. I remember meeting him nearly three years ago and he had a aura about him even then a healthy mix of maturity and intimidation and when he speaks, I bet everyone listens.

Many fans don't follow England or even want our players involved in international football, but for me, caps and call ups are part of a successful squad and though injury made me miss out on my prediction that Walker would go to Poland and the Ukraine, I have a feeling that once Steven Caulker established himself as a Spurs regular, full and regular England honours will follow...

As featured on Vital Spurs (feel free to leave comments here and there, using your same vital logins on each) and written by OxfordSpur.

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