Gary Cahill has the 'captain's profile' for England, says Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho

Chelsea boss Mourinho believes Cahil could be a good England captain

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England defender Gary Cahill has the 'captain's profile', according to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

Roy Hodgson is next week set to name his squad for the upcoming friendly against Norway at Wembley and opening Euro 2016 qualifier in Switzerland.

England will have a new captain following the decision of Steven Gerrard to retire after what was a hugely disappointing World Cup in Brazil.

Hodgson has indicated he already knows who will take on the armband, with both veteran midfielder Frank Lampard - who left Chelsea to join New York City FC before being loaned back to parent club Manchester City - and forward Wayne Rooney, the new Manchester United skipper, the leading candidates.

While not wanting to draw any direct comparisons between the contenders, Mourinho has no doubts centre-back Cahill could perform the role if asked.

"I don't want you to say that I prefer Gary in front of Rooney or Gary is better than Rooney. No, I just speak about Gary and Gary can be a captain," said Mourinho.

"He is not the captain here because we made the decision that John (Terry) is the captain for many, many years, and after that it is about years at the club, so Petr Cech, Didier Drogba, Branislav (Ivanovic), (John) Obi Mikel, so he has lots of guys in front of him.

"So is he going to be Chelsea captain? I hope not, because for him to be (Chelsea) captain then five or six of the other guys they are not able to play.

"But can he be a captain, do I feel he has the captain's profile? Yes."

PA.