Jermain Defoe: 'If the England squad is picked on merit, I'll be selected for France'

The 33-year-old won the last of his 55 England caps in a friendly defeat to Chile in November 2013, and did not feature in any of the qualifiers that resulted in Hodgson’s side making it to this summer’s finals.

But with major injury doubts over Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Andy Carroll, Defoe’s form over the last month has seen him mentioned as a leading contender for a place in England’s 23-man squad.

Skipper Wayne Rooney is certain to make the cut, despite his struggles with Manchester United, while Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy have both made convincing cases for their inclusion.

Hodgson is likely to take four strikers to France though, and having scored 12 goals in all competitions this season, Defoe must stand a chance of making his third major finals if he can add to his tally in the final four months of the campaign.

“If it’s based on merit - and as a forward you get judged on scoring goals - then we will see what happens,” said the Sunderland striker. “I feel sharp, I feel fit and I believe I will continue scoring goals from now until the end of the season.

“I have never retired (from international football), but it’s up to Roy. He picks the squad. He said to me before the World cup, ‘I want to go in with a lot of the younger players’ and I was like, ‘Okay, fair enough, no problem’.

“Maybe he’ll think like that again. But if I am scoring goals and, at the end of the season I am up there with the top goalscorers, it will be interesting to see what happens. I still feel that given the chances, even at international level, I’ll score.”

Defoe continues to study his fellow forwards in an attempt to improve his own game, and like most observers, he has been hugely impressed with Kane’s development over the last 12 months.

He remembers the Tottenham striker from his time at White Hart Lane, and always felt it was only a matter of time before his fellow Londoner exploded onto the Premier League scene.

“I knew him from the Under-21s at Tottenham,” he said. “I’d ask him, ‘How many goals did you score today?’ and invariably he’d say, ‘Three or four’.

“I always used to think, ‘Surely he will get his chance in the first team – even if it’s just cup games and things like that’. Even then, you could see with his finishing that he was just a natural goalscorer. I always believed, at some point, he would get a chance and go on to score many goals for the club. 

“Jamie Vardy is the same. He’s another who has done unbelievably well considering where he has come from. Just no fear. That’s how he plays – he’s explosive, and with the goals that he’s scored, that’s nice to see.”