Reece James set to miss England duty with Chelsea keen for defender to build up fitness at club in return from injury
CHELSEA are set to pull Reece James out of the England squad due to injury – leaving Luke Shaw as the only specialist full-back.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel revealed the news after his side secured a place in the FA Cup semi final by beating Middlesbrough 2-0 on Saturday.
James, 22, had been out of action due to a hamstring problem.
He returned for Chelsea’s 4-0 win over Burnley earlier this month but suffered another blow on his comeback.
That led to him missing last week’s win over Newcastle, the Champions League trip to Lille and the triumph at The Riverside.
And afterwards Tuchel claimed that the star, who only has 147 minutes of action under his belt in 2022, should stay at his club to continue his recovery.
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He said: “The recommendation is that he does not go.
“He is still in individual training, otherwise we would have brought him to Lille and we would have brought him here for sure.
“There is no doubt about it. He needs one more week of rehabilitation and I think we can provide this much better.
“It is not the job of the national team to do this.”
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Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has already pulled out of Southgate’s England squad due to injury.
And with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker left out and Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier injured, that leaves the Three Lions boss with no recognised right-back.
England face Switzerland next Saturday in a friendly at Wembley before returning to the national stadium on Tuesday to take on Ivory Coast.