Jude Bellingham is unlikely to be risked for England’s friendly against Japan on Tuesday, head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed.
Bellingham was selected as part of Tuchel’s 35-man Three Lions squad for the March camp but did not play any part in last Friday’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay and has only played a bit-part role in training as he continues his recovery from a muscular injury suffered while playing for Real Madrid.
The 22-year-old has featured only once off the bench for Los Blancos since suffering the issue against Rayo Vallecano in early February and Tuchel says it’s likely he’ll sit out the Japan game.
“It’s too much of a risk,” the England head coach told BBC Radio 5 Live. “So, the tendency is that he will not play.
“We have all gained from him being part of it. He was excellent in training, but he was involved as a neutral player. He was involved in not the whole 100 per cent of the training.
“It looked very good but we’re still holding him back, to not take a risk.
“The injury is a muscle, it’s a very particular one, and we absolutely don’t want the re-injury in this moment of the season.”
Rogers vs Bellingham battle
Bellingham is expected to be a key man for England at the World Cup this summer, but debate remains over his starting spot in Tuchel’s XI with Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers impressing in that position during qualifying.
Rogers is likely to get another chance to impress at Wembley after sitting out last week’s game, which could leave Bellingham sweating further over his position.
Tuchel has suggested previously that it will be impossible to fit all his attacking midfielders into his side, including Rogers and Bellingham, with Cole Palmer and Phil Foden among the other players vying in that position.
He said in November: “At the moment, if we keep the structure, they cannot play. They can, but not in the structure, not for the balance that we developed. Not for the structure that also comes with wingers who are like specialists in their positions.
“There is a lot of congruence, especially in the No 10 position, if you think about Phil can play there, you think about Jude, you think about Morgan Rogers, who played fantastic for us in this position.
“You have Cole Palmer, you have Morgan Gibbs-White, so there is a lot of players and there is the chance that we will not take everyone.
“Not because we don’t like [them], not because they don’t individually deserve it, but we will always do what’s best for the team.
“We will always do what’s best for winning, we will always do what’s best for balance and we will try to keep the clarity, even if it means that we have to take tough decisions.
“We take tough decisions in any camp and this will not change when we go to a tournament.”
