Eberechi Eze, others withdraw from England squad

Eberechi Eze, Rhian Brewster, Marc Guehi have withdrawn from England’s U21 squad to face Albania as a precaution against injury.

Chelsea defender Guehi, who is currently on loan at Swansea, and Crystal Palace midfielder Eze returned to their respective clubs on Monday, while Sheffield United forward Brewster left the squad on Sunday.

It comes after England U21 manager Aidy Boothroyd said he would never risk players’ fitness.

Boothroyd is already without Ryan Sessegnon, who withdrew from the squad prior to Friday’s 3-1 win over Andorra.

Tottenham defender Sessegnon entered quarantine at the request of his loan club Hoffenheim, after a number of positive coronavirus cases at the German club.

England U21s face Albania at Molineux on Tuesday and Boothroyd has promised to not put players at unnecessary risk, with qualification for Euro 2021 already secured.

He said: “Any time you put on the shirt it means an awful lot.

“In terms of what we need to do, we have to win our games and play in a manner that fits our style.

“As far as the clubs are concerned, it’s not a case of flogging the players.

“We work closely with the clubs on the loading of the players.

“We’ve a good idea of when they come to us the game time they’ve had and the training loads they have gone through.

“We discuss just how fit the players are and how much we can do.

“We’re in constant contact with the clubs, like in Ryan’s (Sessegnon) case with COVID-19 we have to adhere to that.

“One of the big plusses of this current England pathway is we have really good relationships with coaches.

“When it’s a tough situation we work with them and not against them.”