New England boss Sam Allardyce has said Joe Hart will "definitely" be in his first squad when it is announced on Sunday — but he is yet to reveal who will captain the Three Lions.
Speaking at St George's Park one month on from his appointment as Roy Hodgson's successor, Allardyce confirmed goalkeeper Hart, who has lost his place at Manchester City to Willy Caballero under Pep Guardiola, will still be part of the England set-up for the opening World Cup qualifier in Slovakia on September 4th.
Hart, 29, endured a tough summer with England as they crashed out of the European Championship at the round of 16 stage against unfancied Iceland — with Hodgson leaving his post as a result.
And since then new City boss Guardiola has told Hart he is free to leave the Etihad Stadium, preferring Caballero in his first three competitive matches in charge.
Despite that, Allardyce will select Hart — capped 63 times to date — in his maiden squad.
“The problem for any player you want to select for England, not just in isolation but in total areas, is that it will be a concern if a player doesn’t play for his team,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I think that you have to have your doubts about that. But before I meet up with Joe I don’t really know where he lies in that process at the moment, so I think that when we pick the first squad and then the lads come here (St George’s Park) there will be some lads that don’t play on a regular basis.
“In terms of picking Joe and the goalkeeper that he is he will be in the squad, definitely. What do we do? I won’t really know that until I speak to Joe and that will be the same with most of the players when they arrive.”
Former Bolton, West Ham and Sunderland boss Allardyce admitted at his unveiling that he was unsure whether current skipper Wayne Rooney will retain the armband under the new regime.
And he is still not ready to announce who England’s new captain will be, saying: “We will announce the squad then we’ll meet up and the first thing I would probably choose to tell the public and the media would be who is going to be the captain so we can get that one out of the way.
“The team selection and the first XI will be later on in the week.
“He’s (Rooney) the most successful England player for the last decade, he’s broken every record at league level, Champions League level and international level, so yes, we should talk very much about Wayne and about how good he is, what a fantastic player he is and what a really, really good captain he is.”
Rooney operated in midfield during England’s ill-fated Euro 2016 tournament despite having become the nation’s all-time leading goalscorer in a perfect qualifying campaign.
He has since returned to a more attacking role under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford and Allardyce wants to see a level of flexibility from any member of his squad.
“Why can’t we be flexible? I don’t know why we can’t be flexible,” he added.
“I think in terms of my time over the last 25 years, the success has come about by asking the players to be flexible and play in a position that sometimes they don’t normally play and be successful in that position.
“In all honesty I’ve changed players’ opinion on what their position has been and played them in a new position and when I’ve asked them to go back to their old position they’ve said ‘I don’t want to go back there any more’. So flexible, yes.
“If you are playing for England, sure it’s about playing in the first XI, no matter where you play.”
