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The England boss is no longer concerned by the debate over the Manchester United and Chelsea players' international careers, saying he has other interesting alternatives

England manager Roy Hodgson insists he has "moved on" from the debate over John Terry and Rio Ferdinand's international careers, suggesting he has plenty of promising alternatives to consider.

The Chelsea captain retired from international football before he was given a four-match ban by the FA for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, while the Manchester United defender has not featured for the Three Lions under Hodgson.

But the 65-year-old boss now feels he has enough promising talents to consider in the centre-back positions for the national team to put the warring duo out of his mind for good.

"I have moved on from the Ferdinand and Terry debate. The team have moved on from it," he told reporters.

"We can never dictate what is being done on the outside. All we can do is control our own environment and already we think we have some pretty interesting alternatives.

"Phil [Jagielka] and Joleon [Lescott] have done well. [Gary] Cahill and [Steven] Caulker did well against Sweden and I am also looking for [Chris] Smalling and [Phil] Jones."

While the former Fulham manager acknowledged Ferdinand and Terry's fine form for the national side over the years, he remained positive the new recruits can fill the void.

He continued: "I have to hope that amongst that group of players - and maybe someone else will come on the scene and force his way in - I can find a couple of players who can do the job in the way John and Rio were when they were playing a few years ago."

And Hodgson now believes he can build his own squad after being rushed in just weeks before Euro 2012 when Fabio Capello sensationally quit his role after Terry was stripped of the captaincy by FA chiefs.

"I would like to think it is my team," he continued. "The players are very much committed to what we are trying to do. We have seen that in all the games so far, irrespective of results.

"I can only hope I will get enough contact with them because to really get a team playing the type of assured football we want they need the coaching, video and talking time."