Nico O’Reilly has become the latest player to drop out of the England squad for their elongated run of Nations League matches through injury.
The Manchester City full-back will miss both remaining matches in this camp: Saturday’s trip to Croatia and next Tuesday’s home game with Czech Republic.
O’Reilly featured against Spain in last week’s opener but missed out against the Czechs in Prague midweek. He has now returned to City for “further assessment” although the specifics of his injury have not been disclosed.
O’Reilly follows the likes of Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford, who withdrew before the first game owing to injuries.
Meanwhile, England boss Thomas Tuchel has been talking up the potential of Jude Bellingham to one day succeed Harry Kane as Three Lions skipper.
The Real Madrid man replaced Kane late on in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Czech Republic and took on the armband for the final 20 minutes.
So, what chances of the midfielder doing the role full-time one day?
Tuchel said: “If you are the captain at the end of these matches, you can certainly become the permanent captain. It’s a reward. It’s a good thing. I think he enjoys being with us at the moment. That’s how I feel.
“Today we talked a little about his (Bellingham’s) role, and we said maybe 30 minutes would be enough because he has not played during this short spell of matches this season. He has done it before, but not this season, so we did not want to be the first to try that.
“But even in this short time, you can see that he is confident and even happy to help from the bench.”
