Eberechi Eze will miss the upcoming England friendlies, with Thomas Tuchel calling up a one-cap winger in his place.
The Arsenal star missed the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City on Sunday after picking up an injury within the Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen last week.
It was a blow for the previous Crystal Palace man, who scored an excellent goal against the German side, only to have to look at his teammates tepidly lose the Wembley showpiece.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta confirmed after the match that Eze wouldn’t be fit enough to link up with the Three Lions over the international break.
The Spaniard said: ‘We’ll do one other scan on him in six or seven days and we’ll wait to see the outcomes. It’s a calf injury.’
It’s bad news for the 27-year-old, who’s battling with a string of rival forwards for a spot within the World Cup squad.
The likes of Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Morgan Rogers, Marcus Rashford, Jarrod Bowen and Noni Madueke are all fighting for places on the plane across the Atlantic.
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There’s one other name who will join that fight as Newcastle United’s Harvey Barnes will replace Eze within the England squad for the upcoming pair of friendles.
Thomas Tuchel’s side tackle Uruguay on Friday after which Japan next Tuesday (March 31), each at Wembley.
The 28-year-old has played 49 games already this season for the Magpies, scoring 14 goals, five of which have are available in the Premier League and 6 within the Champions League.
He has one cap for England, having come off the bench in a friendly against Wales in 2020 and had been linked with switching international allegiance to Scotland.
The one appearance in a friendly for the Three Lions doesn’t rule him out of playing for Scotland, who he qualifies for through his grandparents, and there was a suggestion he could make the switch ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
Nonetheless, that now off the table and Barnes will hope so as to add to his one cap in the approaching days and make an unlikely bid to represent England on the World Cup.
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Scotland boss Steve Clarke confirmed last month that Barnes had chosen not to modify allegiance, telling the BBC: ‘It’s the perennial query, everybody keeps asking me about it.
‘This time I can say of course, Harvey’s going to focus on attempting to play for England, he’s not going to come back to Scotland.’
One other injury blow for England is Jarell Quansah, who won’t join the squad, in response to his club Bayer Leverkusen.
A club statement read: ‘Quansah sustained a muscle injury in his left thigh and can’t join the England squad as planned. Quansah would have faced Uruguay and Japan with the Three Lions in London.’
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