Reece James has confirmed on Wednesday that he will not be part of Gareth Southgate's England squad for the World Cup in Qatar later this month because of a knee injury.
The Chelsea defender said on social media that he is “devastated” to be missing the finals, which kick-off on November 20.
The 22-year-old right-back picked up the injury playing against AC Milan in the Champions League on October 11. Chelsea had said he faced at least an eight-week lay-off and James had been hopeful of recovering in time for the World Cup.
The defender began jogging this week but it is believed that Southgate felt it was too big a risk to name him in his 26-man squad, which is announced on Thursday.
He had started the Three Lions' last four matches and was a considered certainty for Southgate's starting XI in Qatar until he suffered the injury.
James wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “Devastated. The minute I injured my knee, I knew the turnaround to make the World Cup would be tight, but I always felt it was possible.
“I’ve worked harder than I ever thought I could to give myself the best chance of going and truly believed I could help the team.
“I appreciate there was risk on both sides but it was one I was willing to take. Good luck to the boys. I’ll be back soon. Stay safe and sending love.”
After looking one of England’s positions of real strength, the right-back berth has suddenly became a problem with Kyle Walker also out injured.
The Manchester City defender had groin surgery at the start of October, but said last month he was “confident” of being fit for Qatar.
However, City manager Pep Guardiola said last week that Walker, 32, would not play for the club before the tournament starts.
There was another scare for England manager Gareth Southgate at the weekend when Newcastle United full-back Kieran Tripper pulled up with holding him hamstring just before half-time in the Magpies’ victory at Southampton on Sunday.
But the Newcastle captain, and likely starter for England with James now out, was able to continue and manager Eddie Howe said on Monday that were “no problems” with the 32-year-old.
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HOW ENGLAND QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CUP 2022: (Group I) March 25, 2021. England 5 (Ward Prowse 14', Calvert-Lewin 21', 53', Sterling 31', Watkins 83'): England began their qualification campaign by brushing aside San Marino at Wembley with substitute Ollie Watkins scoring on his debut. Manager Gareth Southgate said: "Of course, it's an opponent we should beat, but I thought they went about the job really well." Reuters -
March 28, 2021. Albania 0 England 2 (Kane 38', Mount 63'): Two out of two for Southgate's men who stretched their unbeaten run in World Cup qualifiers to 23 games after Harry Kane scored one and supplied the other. Southgate said: "We had opportunities to make it three and should have killed the game off. I didn’t like the way we managed the game in the last 15 minutes, charging forwards when we didn’t need to." Reuters -
March 31, 2021. England 2 (Kane pen 19', Maguire 85') Poland 1 (Moder 58'): England overcame a dreadful error from defender John Stones that led to Poland - who were without Robert Lewandowski up front - scoring to make it three wins out of three. Southgate said: "We need to play top opponents and you could see tonight we still have a lot of improvements to make. That’s not anything I didn’t know." Reuters -
September 2, 2021. Hungary 0 England 4 (Sterling 55', Kane 63', Maguire 69', Rice 87'): Impressive England destroyed Hungary with four second-half goals in Budapest in a match where England players had objects thrown at them while some players suffered racist abuse from the home crowd. Southgate said: "We showed great maturity and kept the ball well. The attacking play was really exciting in the second half and we could have had more." Reuters -
September 5, 2021. England 4 (Lingard 18', 78', Kane pen 72'), Saka 85') Andorra 0: Three late goals made it five wins out of five for England, who made 11 changes from the side that won 4-0 in Hungary. Southgate said: "It was difficult for the players picked who didn't have as much games together. You have to keep moving the ball, keep being patient. It wasn't an easy task." AFP -
September 8, 2021. Poland 1 (Szymanski 90+2') England 1 (Kane 72'). An injury-time leveller ended England's 100 per cent record but still found themselves four points clear at the top of Group I with four games left. Southgate said: "It was no surprise that this was the hardest game in the group. Early in the game, we were a little slow to move the ball ... in the second half we controlled the game." AFP -
October 9, 2021. Andorra 0 England 5 (Chilwell 17', Saka 40', Abraham 59', Ward-Prowse 79', Grealish 86'): A stroll for England against a country ranked 156th in the world. Manchester City forward Phil Foden was the star of the show as Jack Grealish scored his first England goal. Grealish said: "In the back of my mind there has been that feeling that I've just wanted to score, just to get off the mark. Obviously I've done that tonight, I'm delighted." Reuters -
October 12, 2021. England 1 (Stones 37') Hungary 1 (Sallai pen 24'): A stumble in England's quest for Qatar as Southgate's side produced a disjointed display at Wembley with an out-of-form Harry Kane taken off despite the Three Lions still searching for a winner. Southgate said: "I don't think we played at the level we have done and Hungary defended very well. We didn't do enough to win the game." EPA -
November 12, 2021. England 5 (Maguire 9', Kane 18', 33', 45'+1), Henderson (28') Albania 0: Harry Kane was back in the scoring groove, hitting a hat-trick that left England needing only a point from their final qualifier in San Marino to qualify. Southgate said: "The first-half performance in the main was outstanding. Harry gave a fantastic centre-forward's performance ... I thought his all-round game was excellent." Getty -
November 15, 2021. San Marino 0 England 10 (Maguire 6', Fabbri og 15'), Kane pen 27', 31', pen 39', 42'), Smith Rowe 58', Mings 69', Abraham 78', Saka 79'): England reached double figures for the first time since 1964 and secured their spot in Qatar. Southgate said: "We gave a performance that was enjoyable for the supporters that travelled, was clinical in the way we went about it, and then showed some exciting young players coming through." Reuters
