Thomas Tuchel believes that Reece James‘ inclusion in the England squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary “can only be a misunderstanding”.
James was named in Gareth Southgate’s 23-man squad on Thursday, despite being left out of Chelsea’s squad for the 1-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League less than 24 hours earlier. The right-back was forced off inside the opening half an hour of Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Manchester City last Saturday with an ankle injury.
Speaking on Friday ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League game with Southampton, Tuchel joked that the only England side that James would be able to represent next week is the water polo team as he is undergoing his rehabilitation in a swimming pool at the club’s Cobham training base.
When asked whether James was selected with his blessing, Tuchel responded: “You would assume so, no? But when I saw it I thought that maybe Reece goes with the water polo team for England, because right now he trains in the pool.
“So I was a bit surprised, but I understood that he was selected for the football team. My last information is he will not go, it can only be a misunderstanding.”
Tuchel’s words were interesting given Southgate had said upon the announcement of his squad that it was England’s “understanding” that both James and his Chelsea teammate Mason Mount would be able to play for their club this weekend before linking up with the national team.
“Clearly they’re still to appear for their clubs so there is an element of the unknown with that but our understanding is that Mason and Reece have a good chance for the weekend,” Southgate said. “We’ll have to track that.”
On that, Southgate’s intel appears to have been 50 per cent correct. “Mason is in the squad, Mason is back,” Tuchel confirmed. “It was not a long injury, it was a minor injury.”
Although Tuchel made light of the situation, he made it clear that James would not be available, adding: “The club is in touch [with the FA]”, he said.
James is not the only right-back unavailable to Southgate for this international break. Trent Alexander-Arnold was not called up after Jurgen Klopp confirmed prior to Liverpool’s win over Porto that he had suffered a “serious” groin injury in training.
At this stage, it is unclear whether Southgate will draft in a replacement. i understands that a further announcement on the squad is unlikely to be made until the players report for duty on Tuesday, ahead of the game against Andorra on Saturday 9 October.
Manchester City’s Kyle Walker and Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier will compete for a place at right-back if Southgate decides against calling anyone else into the squad.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3B4S7zy
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