Eight England national team stars have pulled out of the Three Lions squad after their call-up to the November international period — leaving interim manager Lee Carsley scrambling to re-assemble his team for Nations League fixtures vs. Greece and Ireland.
Via SI.com:
Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Aaron Ramsdale are the players that won’t travel to represent England in its final two games of 2024.
The players — who represent Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC, Manchester City, Liverpool FC, and Southampton — are all dealing with fitness issues of “of different extents”, according to the report.
And England captain Harry Kane is not best pleased.
Via @iMiaSanMia:
Another former Bayern Munich figure, previous head coach Thomas Tuchel, is caught in the mix too — as his delayed appointment to the Three Lions post has left the squad in a state of flux.
Kane drew comparisons to the atmosphere under Gareth Southgate, perhaps sending a message of what he would like to see his teammates — and Tuchel — maintain once the new era is under way.
“I think the joy to play for England, I think he brought that back,” Kane said of Southgate’s England tenure in the above clip. “Every camp people were excited to come, every camp people wanted to play for England. And yeah, that’s the most important thing. I think England comes before anything. England comes before club. England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer…Gareth was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.”
A pointed warning perhaps. Asked directly about his feelings on the slate of withdrawals, the former Tottenham Hotspur skipper did not seem sympathetic to any club priorities.
“It’s a shame this week, obviously. It’s a tough period of the season and maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit. I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest,” Kane continued. “I think England comes before anything, any club situation.”
Looking for some chatter on where Bayern Munich stands at the moment, how Jamal Musiala might be close to taking “the leap”, and our thoughts on the latest German national team call-ups? Great, then check out the Bavarian Podcast Works Show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
