Dele Alli and Ross Barkley can play together – Roy Hodgson should build his team around them

One happy thing Roy Hodgson cannot have expected from this season is the emergence of real choice. Such was the paucity of English resources for Brazil in 2014, the national team effectively picked itself: Joe Hart and ten others. From the 30-odd Englishmen playing in the Premier League, Hodgson knew precisely his strongest line-up. Though strong is probably not the most accurate term to use.

Not any more. In a gloriously unforeseen twist, the burgeoning success of a swaggering Tottenham Hotspur team with a young English core and Leicester’s sudden propulsion of a couple of Englishmen unconsidered two years back, has completely changed the outlook. After the most unexpected of Premier League seasons, Hodgson is in the glorious position of having to make proper selection decisions. The question now is whether he will make the right ones.

The arguments have begun over whether you can put Dele Alli and Ross Barkley in the same team. They have not played together yet and already they are being characterized by some observers as the new Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, apparently unable to be accommodated together in an England midfield. Which, as guff goes is right up there with Donald Trump’s political manifesto. Of course they can play together. Indeed, they represent the most exciting English central pairing in years, a duo full of imagination, drive and skill. There should be no hesitation in playing them both. In fact, it should be Hodgson’s priority to build a team around them.

That is the issue: not whether they should play together, but what is the best way to exploit the pairing. And that surely would be in a 4-3-3 system, with the two of them playing alongside a more defensive third midfielder, behind a fleet of foot front three. In short, this should be the front six, not just for this weekend’s friendlies but for the first game in the Euros too: Henderson, Barkley, Alli; Welbeck, Kane, Sturridge. Actually just writing that down makes you think: we could be on to something here. We’d better be careful, or undue optimism might make an unhelpful return to our thinking.

But what an exciting line-up that is, full of pace, guile and fire. There is plenty held in reserve too. Eric Dier or Danny Drinkwater could come on if needed to tighten things up; Jamie Vardy and Raheem Sterling are attacking options. Behind them a back five – fitness permitting – of Hart, Walker, Stones, Smalling and – here is the one selection where I diverge from Hodgson’s thinking – Aaron Cresswell, is a far more progressive unit than England have fielded in years.

And yes, Hodgson would be right to take Wayne Rooney to France if the United skipper were to recover from his knee problem. Not as a starter, but as a presence around the squad. Rooney is a player of huge influence, mightily respected by his peers, whose leadership in the dressing room and on the training field can only be of benefit. He could also be an exceptionally useful impact sub.

But everything depends on Hodgson being bold and accepting the simple reality that if he is to get anywhere in France it all starts in the middle. It will require finding a way to harness Alli and Barkley from the outset. The pair need to be at the heart of everything, the core from which all the creativity and strength will stir. For a start, Harry Kane is twice the player with Dele Alli behind him. Their link-up has been critical to Tottenham’s advance this season. They understand each other, they know where the other one is heading, they are in perfect harmony. And you can imagine Alli and Barkley quickly striking up a similar understanding with Welbeck and Sturridge too. Both those two forwards are hugely intelligent, imaginative footballers. And they would love playing ahead of players as intuitive as Alli and Barkley. True, they might also be among the most injury prone ever to pull on a kit. But right now both are fit and firing. Which Hodgson must regard as a completely unforeseen blessing.

Actually, it is hard not to smile when working out an England squad for the summer. With Hart, Butland and Forster there is a proper bunch of goalkeepers. At full back, with Baines still not convincing and Shaw clearly not fit, I would take only Walker, Cresswell and Rose, on the understanding that John Stones can deputise at right back if necessary. At centre back the choice is less extensive, with Stones, Smalling and Cahill picking themselves. I would take Ryan Shawcross as the fourth choice ahead of Phil Jagielka who is having a very poor season at Everton. Shawcross may have been exposed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his last outing for England, but he remains as rock solid an English centre back as there is. Stoke fans are not alone in recognizing that letting him leave Manchester United was not Alex Ferguson’s finest decision in management.

Taking one fewer full back would allow more midfielders to board the Eurostar. The eight I would take would be: Henderson, Alli, Barkley, Sterling, Drinkwater, Dier, Milner and – if he has properly recovered by then – Wilshere. If not Mark Noble would be as good a stand-in as any. Then, up front, Sturridge, Welbeck, Kane, Vardy and Rooney.

No place for Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Michael Carrick then. Which is an indication of how things have improved over the past couple of years. After the Brazil debacle, all three were considered central to the England process. Now, it is not hard to argue that Walcott should miss out on selection yet again.

With a squad like that at his disposal, even Roy Hodgson would be hard pressed to make it dull. Starting from Saturday’s assignment against the world champions, we will get a clearer idea of how he intends to use this sudden flowering of talent. These are interesting times.