Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, and Marcus Rashford are among five players who have pulled out of England’s squad for the upcoming Nations League matches due to injuries, the Football Association announced on Monday.
Alongside them, Tino Livramento and Kobbie Mainoo have also withdrawn from Thomas Tuchel’s squad ahead of the fixtures against Spain, the Czech Republic, and Croatia.
In response, Everton midfielder James Garner and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White have been called up as replacements to bolster the squad.
Palmer’s withdrawal marks the end of a brief return to Tuchel’s plans after the 24-year-old was omitted from England’s World Cup squad earlier this year. Despite this setback, Palmer had shown strong form, playing the full 90 minutes in Chelsea’s recent defeat to Brentford and contributing four goals and two assists in seven appearances this season.
England will kick off their Nations League campaign against the reigning world champions Spain at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. They will then travel to Prague to face the Czech Republic on September 29.
Following that, Tuchel’s team will face Croatia in Rijeka on October 3 before hosting the Czech Republic again at Wembley three days later in Group A3.
This international window is extended over three weeks and represents the first under FIFA’s updated match calendar, which merges the traditional September and October breaks into a single period.
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