Danny Welbeck, James Milner and Leighton Baines have pulled out of the England squad to face Italy in Tuesday’s friendly as Roy Hodgson’s injury problems mount.
Welbeck sustained a knee injury in the second half of Friday’s 4-0 win over Lithuania while the FA also confirmed Raheem Sterling, Milner and Baines had been sent back to their clubs. The Manchester City midfielder Milner did not play against Lithuania as he had a knee problem while Baines has gone back to Everton as he is struggling for fitness and Hodgson wants to give Kieran Gibbs his seventh cap in Turin.
Sterling is carrying a toe injury and will return to Liverpool as agreed with the club before the international break. The England manager has called up Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand as cover for the left-back position
Hodgson told FA TV: “We knew we were going to be losing Raheem Sterling who had an injection last night on an on-going injury and hopefully that will help him as we go forward. We have a problem with James Milner who had to leave, we decided to let Leighton Baines go home and of course we lost Danny Welbeck who unfortunately picked up a slight knee injury [against Lithuania]. So those four players won’t be with us going forward but it means a chance for the other guys in the squad to show what they can do.
“We are going to bring Ryan Bertrand in because with Leighton Baines gone we are now left with only one recognised left-back which is Kieran Gibbs and we wanted two recognised left-backs for both games.”
Nine players have withdrawn from the squad since it was announced. Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Fraser Forster and Danny Rose all pulled out through injury last week. That means Hodgson has just 17 outfield players to choose from for the game against the country that beat England in their World Cup opener in Manaus last June.
