Injured James withdraws from England squad

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Reece James has withdrawn from the England squad.

James was included for the upcoming games against Switzerland and Ivory Coast despite having been unavailable for Chelsea because of injury.

The wing-back recently returned from two months out with a hamstring problem but suffered another muscle injury against Burnley in only his third game back.


James, 22, has played just 17 times in the Premier League this season and is hoping to recover in time for the clash with Brentford on Saturday 2 April.

Blues boss Thomas Tuchel made it clear he did not believe James should join the squad and ought to instead continue having treatment at Chelsea.

Speaking after Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final win at Middlesbrough, Tuchel said: “The recommendation is that he does not go.

“He’s still in individual training, otherwise we would have brought him to Lille and we would have brought him here.

“He needs one more week of individual rehabilitation and I think we can provide this much better. It’s not the job of the national team to do this.”