SHORTLY after Roy Hodgson's appointment, his mind will have surely started to jump towards the summer. The manager had finished the season with West Bromwich Albion, but contemplated different squad permutations for Euro 2012.

In the end his most controversial inclusion was that of John Terry, who awaits trial for a racially aggravated public order offence.

Forget the sideshow though, what it should have boiled down to was the player's footballing talent.

Hodgson's admiration for the former England captain shone through.

Despite a poor run of form and controversies on and off-field, Terry's mentality and leadership qualities earned him his summer call.

With that in mind it should not seem strange to think Andy Carroll was able to force his way in to the new England manager's first squad - despite such a dreadful spell since his £35m transfer from St James' Park in January last year.

Such was the former Newcastle striker's form that when 'Andy Carroll' is typed in to Google the word which automatically follows is 'jokes'. Yet Hodgson - like the rest of the country in fact - had no reason to view the 23-year-old's performances for Liverpool as a laughing matter towards the end of the season.

Not only did Carroll start to show the sort of talent which persuaded the Reds to pay so handsomely for him, he did so by tormenting the one defender Hodgson was ready to stand by and select for Euro 2012: Terry.

The Chelsea skipper - with a tough image and rugged reputation - was bullied by Carroll in Liverpool's two matches against Chelsea at the business end of the season.

In highlighting to Hodgson that he could do that to one of the strongest defenders in the Premier League, Carroll effectively wrote his name on the England squad list himself.

Now he must repeat that form for his country by showing he can do exactly what he did to Terry against the cream of Europe.

As one of just four strikers in the squad, including the suspended Wayne Rooney, Carroll looks a certainty to lead the line in England's opening fixture in Group D - particularly given the coach's preference for a target man.

Hodgson, resisting the temptation to include the more experienced Peter Crouch ahead of Carroll, said: "I hope I'm not selecting players on the basis of going to a game one day, seeing him have a great game and giving him an England shirt.

"I'd like to think I've been in the game long enough not to fall for that trick. So it's a profile. The profile Andy Carroll brings interests me very much."

Carroll has been no stranger to off-the-field incidents either. Yet his late emergence as a force to be reckoned with in the latter stages of the Premier League season could, his manager hopes, work to England's advantage.

He may not have helped Kenny Dalglish keep his job at Anfield, but Carroll could be just the ticket for a new era under Hodgson to start in style.