England have confirmed that they have withdrawn Chelsea’s Reece James
Reece James has been withdrawn from the team by England due to an ‘ongoing problem’ with a slight hamstring strain.
Gareth Southgate called up the 23-year-old for England’s Euro qualifier match against Italy and Ukraine, and James had a small cameo as he replaced Bukayo Saka in the 85th minute in their 2-1 victory over Italy.
The 23-year-old has dealt with frequent injuries this season and has only made 12 Premier League appearances. Due to a knee injury, he also missed the 2022 World Cup, and it now appears that the right-back has experienced another setback.
This is James‘ fourth injury problem this year, but it’s likely to be a relapse of the hamstring injury that held him out of the match against Leeds United.
James has been dealing with a major injury issue this season, and the fact that he has participated in very few games this season raises more doubts about whether he is recovering on time or rushed to the games.
After they excluded James from the team (h/t Football.London), The Three Lions issued the following statement:
“Reece James has withdrawn from the England squad and will not feature against Ukraine on Sunday. The fullback has returned to Chelsea for an assessment on an ongoing issue.
Given that James has sustained injuries repeatedly this season, it is unclear if he was rushed to the games before completely recovering. If so, that is entirely down to us for not having adequate backup in that position in the way we have down the left flank with Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella.
And if that’s the case, it would be a major setback for Chelsea, who have a number of crucial games coming up this month and will need the 23-year-old right back.
Chelsea’s next game is on April 1, and the medical staff will need to carefully analyse the issue that is causing him to be injured so frequently. Hopefully, this is only a small blip for him and he recovers in time.
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We are a different team when James plays. The attacking threat and the defensive stability that James offers make him a complete package. With Cesar Azpilicueta also recovering from concussion, it remains to be seen who starts down the right-hand side against Aston Villa.