John Terry and England Are Right Not to Consider a Return for the Chelsea Star

England take on Lithuania this week as they continue their qualification campaign for Euro 2016.

With domestic football off the agenda, the inevitable talking points have resurfaced.

We're hearing about the future of the English game, caps on international players being signed by Premier League clubs, quotas for indigenous talent.

The FA seems committed to transforming the national team's fortunes.

Every England meeting serves us a reminder of the dearth of talent at manager Roy Hodgson's disposal, particularly when the Three Lions' best defender remains out of the squad.

John Terry may be 34, but as his performances in a Chelsea shirt have shown us for much of 2014/15, England fans are still waiting for a player capable of stepping up to take his crown.

On the surface, it seems folly that Terry continues to remain a pariah of the English game.

Take last summer's World Cup, when a lack of experience and nous at the back could have proved the difference in England qualifying from their group and an early flight home.

We know how that one went.

Yet that's football and politics. They rarely mix well, and such has been the breakdown in relations between Terry and The FA that the England team has been the biggest loser in it all.

The World Cup was Terry's Last Chance Saloon to wear the white of England, though.

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There was a tipping point as the old generation passed over to the new, and Brazil 2014 was it.

Terry was a notable absentee from that doomed campaign, and since then we've witnessed the considerable presence of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard disappear from the international scene, too.

It may be painful when the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are populating England squads while Terry rests at home, yet that's where Hodgson finds himself.

Ask the England boss if he would like Terry in his squad and the honest answer would be a resounding "Yes." There isn't an international coach in his position right now who wouldn't want a player of Terry's ability.

England are moving on, though. Terry's time has since passed, and like the headlines we have read for much of the week, the focus is on taking English football further.

In the short term, a 34-year-old centre-back will provide answers, but where would it leave England in the future?

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Turning to Terry would only prolong the transition England find themselves in right now—Smalling and Jones, or not.

Unlike club football, where managers can adapt and dip into the transfer market to strengthen their team and fill holes, it's a different scenario for Hodgson.

Jose Mourinho has played the transfer market well at Chelsea. He's sold big names for even bigger fees to invest in players he needed to bring a balance back to Stamford Bridge.

He's some of the way there but has work to do. This summer, Mourinho will cast his net far and wide to bring in the players he needs to change a UEFA Champions League last-16 finish into a Champions League final.

Hodgson can't. He has a far more limited pool of talent from which to choose, and in these days of a cosmopolitan Premier League, his job is arguably tougher than ever before.

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Whereas Brazilians, Spaniards and Italians are a threat at the domestic level, aging stars block the pathway internationally.

England need more of their up-and-coming players to be playing games, and with Terry on the scene, it's going to prevent that from happening.

Besides, with him fending off a challenge from up-and-coming players at Chelsea such as Kurt Zouma, does Terry want to be travelling across Europe and putting even more strain on his body? At 34, having achieved so much in his career, the biggest test for Terry these days in remaining No. 1 at Chelsea.

Terry has benefited in more ways than one from no longer being part the international picture. In the long term, so will England.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.