England hit by a NINTH withdrawal due to injury as uncapped player is called up to Lee Carsley’s squad for trip to Greece
- Eight players withdrew from Lee Carsley’s England squad on Monday
- A ninth player now has to withdraw due to injury
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A ninth player has withdrawn from the England squad for the Nations League matches against Greece and Ireland.
Eight players from Lee Carsley’s original squad withdrew on Monday and it was confirmed on Wednesday evening that no other player will travel to Athens.
Interim boss Carsley has responded by calling up an uncapped player to his squad.
Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite trained away from the main squad this week and has now returned to his club after failing to shake off a problem that has bothered him in the opening weeks of the season.
He has been replaced in the selection by Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah.
Lee Carsley has had to make another change to his selection ahead of Thursday’s match in Greece
Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite has been forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury
Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah has been called up to replace Branthwaite
Branthwaite joins Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Levi Colwill and Aaron Ramsdale in withdrawing from the England squad this week.
England captain Harry Kane has criticized his teammates for dropping out. He suggested they had ‘benefited from a difficult period of the season’, before insisting that playing for the Three Lions ‘must come before everything’.
Asked what he wants players to remember from Gareth Southgate’s reign, Kane told ITV: ‘I think it’s a pleasure to play for England. I think he brought that back.
‘Every camp people were excited to come, every camp people wanted to play for England and that’s the most important thing.
‘I think England comes first. It takes precedence over club and it is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer.
“Gareth was excited about that and he wasn’t, and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions when that started to go away with certain players.”
Asked whether he felt the culture may have softened this week in light of the plethora of withdrawals, Kane told ITV: ‘It’s a shame this week, of course.
“I think it’s a difficult period of the season and maybe a little bit of that has been taken advantage of.
‘I don’t like it that much if I’m completely honest. I think, as I just said, England comes before everything and every club situation.”
Carsley’s depleted squad now heads to Greece ahead of Thursday’s match, aiming to exact revenge after losing 2-1 to the same opponents at Wembley last month.
Quansah, who has stepped up from the Under-21s to train with the squad with Branthwaite absent in recent days, will compete for a starting spot with Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.