England have suffered a major setback ahead of their upcoming international fixtures, with Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford withdrawing from Thomas Tuchel’s squad.
Palmer, who was recalled to the Three Lions after being left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad, is among the notable absentees.
According to BBC, Morgan Gibbs-White and James Garner have subsequently been called up as replacements.
Palmer played the full 90 minutes for Chelsea in their defeat to Brentford before withdrawing from England duty.
The forward had been selected for the Nations League fixtures against Spain, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
After announcing his squad for the September and October fixtures, Tuchel explained what Palmer and Gibbs-White needed to do to establish themselves as regulars.
“We can see the form Morgan is in and he ended the season very strongly and was the key player for Forest to not be relegated. We can see him stepping up now,” Tuchel said.
“It’s one thing to be nominated and getting back in the squad and to perform. Cole needs to show these kinds of numbers and performances to get his shirt and justify the nomination.”
Palmer had previously revealed that he felt fully fit after struggling with injuries last season. He said he was determined to maintain his fitness after dealing with a longstanding groin problem.
“Physically I feel good, probably the best I’ve felt in ages, but I think I can [get fitter] with games and more minutes,” Palmer said.
“Before my groin injury, I’d never really been injured. Well, rarely [injured]. So then I would just come back and play when I shouldn’t have played.
“Obviously the World Cup was coming up, so I was in a bit of a dilemma thinking, ‘if I don’t play I’m not going to go. But if I play then, I can’t play [properly].’
“It was just a bit of a sticky situation. I didn’t really know how to deal with it, but it’s one of those things. I was just seeing different people, getting different ideas of why I was injured and what it was.
“Since I’ve come back I’ve been working every day to obviously stop it happening again. I just want to stay injury free, and if I’m on the pitch then I know what I can do.”
Rice, who played through injury during the World Cup, had started all five of Arsenal’s Premier League matches this season before his withdrawal.
Mainoo and Rashford were also doubts after featuring in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Rashford was reportedly managing a hip problem and was seen limping after being substituted, while Mainoo was taken off after 80 minutes for tactical reasons.
Mainoo had been included in England’s World Cup squad but did not feature during the tournament.
Tuchel had previously said he expected the midfielder to play during the current international break.
“I expect him to be on the pitch and it’s my duty to get him on the pitch. That was totally on me. He didn’t put a foot wrong during the World Cup,” Tuchel said.
“He was class in behaviour on the training pitch. There was big competition; we played Reece [James] in central midfield also. Elliot Anderson is amazing for us, Declan Rice is a very unique player
“We trusted them more than we trusted Kobbie. It was difficult for him. It was on me.
“He got injured before the France game so we couldn’t even give him minutes there, which hurt me. Maybe he was more hurt than me but it was my responsibility and it’s my responsibility to reward him for that.”
Sky Sports chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol said Palmer’s withdrawal was not believed to be the result of a serious injury but that the issue needed to be managed.
“It’s not a serious injury but it’s something that needs to be managed. It doesn’t make sense from Chelsea’s perspective for him to go away on international duty for three weeks.
“Everyone knows Palmer has had quite a lot of injury problems, especially last season. He had a longstanding groin injury which meant he missed long stretches of last season. He wasn’t really at his best.
“He has been at his best this season though. He has started every game. He started when they lost away at Brentford.
“Some cynics may be asking if there is more to this than meets the eye. Tuchel controversially left him out of his World Cup squad in the summer so he really had a point to prove. Straight away he lets him down by not being able to make the squad.
“Tuchel is someone who places great store by these camps away from your club for a long time. Some of the reasons that he picked the players he did in the summer was because they impressed him in the camps last autumn.
“It is a little bit of a black mark against Palmer’s name but it should be a kept in proportion because the next tournament is still two years away.”
