Jude Bellingham has joined his England teammates for training ahead of their friendly match against Japan. However, manager Thomas Tuchel has announced that the midfielder will not be participating in the game, despite the approaching World Cup squad announcement.
The 22-year-old has been recovering from a hamstring injury that left him in tears in early February, and he made his return to Real Madrid as a late substitute just eight days ago.
Initially, Tuchel had hoped that Bellingham, who was included in the 35-man squad announced in March, could play against Japan after missing out on Friday’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay. However, despite making significant progress and participating in Monday’s training session at Tottenham’s facility, Tuchel has decided to keep him sidelined once more.
Jude Bellingham has been training with England but is only just back from injury (Bradley Collyer/PA)
“I think it’s too much of a risk,” Tuchel stated on BBC Radio 5 Live. “So, the likely outcome is that he will not play. We have all benefitted from having him here; he was outstanding in training, but he did not partake fully in the session.”
“It looked very promising, but we’re still being cautious to avoid any risks. The nature of the injury is muscular, and we definitely want to prevent a re-injury at this critical point in the season.”
Jordan Henderson has trained away from the main group (Bradley Collyer/PA)
“While it was great to have him at camp, the inclination is that he won’t play.”
Bellingham was one of 26 players who participated in the training session held on Monday at Spurs’ state-of-the-art training facility. Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson, who led the team against Uruguay, followed a separate training regimen away from the main group.
Tuchel also mentioned that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were eager to play for England but the risk of aggravating their injuries was deemed “far too great” at this stage of the season.
The German manager expanded his squad to 35 players for the final training camp before finalizing selections for the World Cup, bringing in 11 more established players on Friday.
Rice and Saka, who joined later, were two of five players to withdraw due to injury after observing the 1-1 draw with Uruguay at Wembley, along with their Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke.