Andy Townsend has brushed off criticism of Jermain Defoe being picked for the England squad at the age of 34 and said the Sunderland hitman would still be scoring goals at the age of 45 if he moved to Scottish champions Celtic.
England manager Gareth Southgate has called up Defoe, handing the veteran striker a chance to add to his total of 55 Three Lions caps.
It has been suggested in some quarters that Southgate should be looking to the future rather than selecting someone who will be 35 by the time the World Cup rolls around in 2018.
During a discussion on BBC Radio 5 live, a listener suggested that age is just a number and pointed out that Chris Sutton was still scoring regularly for Celtic at the age of 33.
And that prompted Townsend to insist that Defoe would also score regularly at Celtic, even if he was to turn out for the Scots at the age of 45, in an indication towards the standard of the Scottish top flight being poor.
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"Jermain would score when he's 45 if he went up to Celtic", Townsend said.
"That's true, that's true", he added, defending himself.
"Listen, that's a fact."
Townsend, 53, did not sample Scottish football during his career, turning out for Welling United, Weymouth, Southampton, Norwich City, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and West Brom.
He also won 70 caps for the Republic of Ireland.
