Rob Key believes Andrew Flintoff could become England’s head coach, claiming it would be “stupid” not to consider the former all-rounder when the job next becomes available.

Flintoff has staged a gradual return to cricket since the start of last summer, following the horrific car crash on the set of Top Gear that left him with life-changing injuries.

The 46-year-old worked with England’s white-ball team during the tour of the Caribbean before Christmas and took on a mentoring role with the Lions ahead of their series in India.

This summer, he is set to travel to the T20 World Cup as a formal part of England’s backroom staff, before taking his first head coach role with the Northern Superchargers men’s side during the Hundred.

Key, who is the managing director of England men’s cricket, is a close personal friend of Flintoff and believes the former Lancashire star has the potential to one day succeed at the helm of the national side.

“Without question, I think he would be an excellent head coach,” Key said in an interview with The Telegraph. “Who knows where he ends up in the future.

"He will be a worthy candidate going forward. When that time comes and whoever is in this job, and it might be outside of my time, they would be stupid not to look at him.”

England currently operate with separate head coaches for their men’s red and white-ball set-ups. Brendon McCullum has a contract to lead the Test side until after the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia, but Matthew Mott is under pressure following England’s dismal ODI World Cup defence in India last year and could be out of the door should the T20 equivalent go the same way this summer.

“He has helped us immensely,” Key said of Flintoff’s impact since returning to the fold. “Just having someone who knows what it is like to struggle and come out the other end is so relatable to those players. When they have had a bad day he can explain it. He is one of those people when he talks to you he is working you out.

“He has high emotional intelligence so he understands when you need a bit of an arm around your shoulder or blunt honesty. Those are the skills that make a great leader. Leadership is about making the people around you feel better and he is someone who is like that. He has a lot to offer.

“Flintoff is a leader like [Ben] Stokes. He is not going to need to learn leadership qualities. He has those in abundance which is what you need at the top level. He has that empathy that Stokes has as well as being a great player.

“He knows what it is like to nick off and to struggle. All these things as a leader, your interactions with people, mean you can impact people in a positive or negative way with everything you do. Fred is aware of that, and not many are aware of that, and he understands how to use that gift with people. “