Chris Sutton gets past Alberto Ricardo Carvalho (MichaelSteele/Allsport)

It was an instant, and undoubtedly harsh, verdict on the Celtic striker's prospects of gatecrashing a free-scoring England squad ahead of the World Cup Finals.

Martin O'Neill bridled at the suggestion that Sutton had underperformed in the Champions League defeat of Porto on Tuesday, describing his £6 million signing as 'absolutely immense'.

O'Neill, who was seated close to Eriksson in the directors' box as he served a one-match UEFA touch-line suspension, asserted that the England coach 'was bound to have been impressed'.

But others felt Sutton had chosen an inopportune moment to perform somewhere beneath the general level of excellence he has exhibited this season.

Eriksson would clearly have noted the robust style which left Porto marker Ricardo Carvalho battered and bruised after the Group E tie. He also would have noticed that Sutton has regained the enthusiasm which took its own battering under Gianluca Vialli's rotation system at Chelsea.

But, having finally flown north for a personal viewing of the in-form attacker, Eriksson saw little of the penalty-box prowess which has raised Sutton's profile to heights not scaled since his Premiership-winning partnership with Alan Shearer at Blackburn Rovers.

His alliance with Henrik Larsson has been even more prolific, with the Swede - having credited Sutton with assists in many of his 53 goals of last season - perhaps whispering advice to his fellow countryman on Tuesday.

Eriksson, maybe, has seen Sutton's barnstorming goal against Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena, he might also have caught coverage of his bullying of Lilian Thuram and Paolo Montero in the Stadio delle Alpi.

If so, the 28-year-old - capped only once by England but an outcast since his infamous refusal to join Glenn Hoddle's 'B' squad - can still retain realistic international ambitions.

If not, then the former Norwich and Blackburn striker, even in the injury absence of Michael Owen, might fear his England opportunity has gone.

Sutton, as though seeking to dodge the relevance of Eriksson's presence on Tuesday evening, said afterwards: 'I'm just trying to do my best for Celtic. If the England thing happens, it happens.'

But Andy Walker, the former Celtic striker now covering the Champions League campaign for Scottish Television, believes it can happen.

'I thought Chris played well, even if it wasn't his best game this season,' said Walker. 'I'm sure Eriksson would have been impressed by what he saw. As a striker, I can understand why Eriksson would want to look at him. Even though England is full of good strikers, they don't have anyone who can do what Chris does.

'He works so hard and does so much to help Henrik. In terms of having someone operating up front with his back to goal, Chris would give England a new dimension.

'All England's strikers, even Emile Heskey, prefer to work facing the goal. Maybe Teddy Sheringham is the best comparison to Chris, but Chris is in such a rich vein of form that he would be the ideal partner for anyone at the moment.