There were more international squad withdrawals over the weekend, with Arsenal again at the centre of it.
Here’s a round-up of who has pulled out of their national team squads.
EIGHT EXIT ENGLAND CAMP
While Thomas Tuchel was always going to cull some players from his bloated 35-man squad for England’s second friendly of the March break, it wasn’t meant to be this many.
Firstly, the non-injuries. Aaron Ramsdale and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, along with AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori, have returned to their respective clubs as reportedly planned.
However, five others have exited with fitness issues.
Noni Madueke is the biggest worry, having left Wembley on Friday sporting a knee brace. He was forced off after 38 minutes of the draw with Uruguay.
Adam Wharton also picked up an issue in that match. Like Madueke, he’s returned to his parent club.
As has John Stones, who was meant to start on Friday but had to pull out with a calf issue.
Finally, two more Arsenal players have departed.
Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were two of the 11-strong party who were allowed to join up with England later on Friday, as Tuchel managed workloads.
However, they’ve done an ‘Abe Simpson’ and walked straight back out of the door, returning to Arsenal “for medical assessment”.
Dean Henderson, Dan Burn, Marc Guéhi, Ezri Konsa, Nico O’Reilly, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane are the other latecomers who weren’t involved against Uruguay, who we may see against Japan in midweek.
HINCAPIE + ZUBIMENDI JOIN THE ARSENAL RETURNEES
It doesn’t stop there for the Arsenal returnees.
We’re up to 11 Gunners now who have exited their international squads.
Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi are the latest additions to the list, having left Ecuador and Spain, respectively.
Zubimendi has withdrawn from the Spanish camp due to “discomfort in his right knee”.
Hincapie, meanwhile, picked up what seemed to be a muscle injury in Ecuador’s draw with Morocco.
NDIAYE OUT OF SENEGAL SQUAD
Elsewhere, Senegal have confirmed that Iliman Ndiaye has returned early to Everton.
The attacking midfielder “has discomfort in his left foot, following an injury sustained at club level.”
