As had been widely tipped this morning, Tottenham right back Kyle Walker has been left out of England’s World Cup squad for this summer’s tournament in Brazil and it means that the club have no English representative at the finals.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that Andros Townsend would miss out due to a long term injury and at around the same time, England boss Roy Hodgson confessed his concerns over Walker’s prolonged absence.
“We haven’t been told for certain that he will be out for the next six to 10 weeks but we are concerned that it has been a long time he has been out,” Hodgson said.
“During that time he has not been able to do any training with the rest of the team as far as I know.
“I know he has had another injection. We are waiting to find out whether that helps. He has not been fit for a long time.”
Walker’s absence has now been confirmed and if you are still interested, here is England’s full squad for Brazil.
J Hart (Manchester City), B Foster (West Brom), F Forster (Celtic); G Johnson (Liverpool), P Jagielka (Everton), G Cahill (Chelsea), C Smalling (Manchester United), P Jones (Manchester United), L Baines (Everton), L Shaw (Southampton); S Gerrard (Liverpool, capt), F Lampard (Chelsea), J Henderson (Liverpool), J Milner (Manchester City), J Wilshere (Arsenal), R Barkley (Everton), A Lallana (Southampton), R Sterling (Liverpool), A Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal); W Rooney (Manchester United), D Sturridge (Liverpool), D Welbeck (Manchester United), R Lambert (Southampton).
If you aren’t particularly bothered about the national side and your interest is only peaked by the presence of Spurs players, Belgium look to be your best prospect this summer.
Hardly a surprise is it? None of our English players are anything but average, and all that keeps Walker in contention is a lack of better option. Both he and Johnson are only ever moments away from a costly mistake.
On a positive note, at least when the post mortem of yet another dismal WC campaign is performed, our players won’t bear any of the scrutiny.
no sweat, at least no fear of summer injuries. No insults either when England come home with their tail between their legs. Hope all our other foreign internationals return injury free as well.