Four more Arsenal players have withdrawn from international duty for medical assessment, joining a growing list this week.
Just one day after they linked up with England for international duty, the national team announced that both Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka had withdrawn for medical assessment by Arsenal.
The pair had met up with the national team late on to begin with, with Thomas Tuchel giving them extra time to rest given their heavy workload so far this season. But they’ll now miss England’s final game of the break against Japan as well.
It was also confirmed that Noni Madueke has withdrawn from the break, after suffering an injury in England’s first friendly against Uruguay. Only Ben White remains from the Arsenal contingent originally called up by England.
After that, the Ecuador national team announced that Piero Hincapie had also withdrawn from international duty.
They wrote that Hincapie underwent medical tests, and based on their evaluation, he was sent back to Arsenal to work on his recovery. Ecuador plan to monitor the defender’s progress back with his club.
Eberechi Eze (England), William Saliba (France), Gabriel Magalhaes (Brazil), Leandro Trossard (Belgium), and Jurrien Timber (Netherlands) all withdrew from international duty before the break even got going, so that’s nine players in total now.
Regular international players Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino were also left out as they continue their recoveries from longer-term injuries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there have been no withdrawals from the group of four players involved in World Cup qualifiers this week, given the relative importance of their matches.
The likes of France and Brazil are probably more than happy to send players back if they have even the most minor of injuries, protecting them ahead of the World Cup this summer.
But Italy, Sweden, and the rest can’t afford to allow players like Riccardo Calafiori and Viktor Gyokeres to have a week off, or their national teams might not make the summer tournament at all.