Chelsea star handed World Cup call after England rocked by injury blow | OneFootball

Three Lions star sees tournament ended before first match

Standard Sport understands that Newcastle right-back Livramento sustained a muscle injury in training that will see him fly home, ending his maiden World Cup campaign before the first match.

FIFA permits teams at the World Cup to replace injured players up to 24 hours before their opening game, as long as the issue is a new one rather than an existing problem they were carrying when they first joined up at the beginning of June.

England’s opening game on Wednesday sees them face Croatia, ranked 11th in the world, at Arlington’s Dallas Stadium. Head coach Thomas Tuchel has, therefore, had to act fast to seek a replacement for Livramento.

As players in the 26-man World Cup squad can only be replaced by those also named in the 55-man provisional squad, Chalobah was on England’s standby list.

Livramento had already endured a disrupted end to the season after he missed the final five week’s of Newcastle’s season with a thigh injury. It remains unclear if this is a similar injury.

England have an almost completely clean bill of health aside from Livramento’s fresh muscular injury, with Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka speaking on Monday about managing the after-effects of an Achilles problem that saw him miss international duty in March and seven games of Arsenal’s triumphant Premier League run-in.

Speaking from England’s Kansas City base camp, Saka said: “I don't want to say anything that goes against the manager, but what I would say is between Mikel [Arteta] and Arsenal’s medical team and England’s medical team, since March they have managed me amazingly and helped me get back on the pitch and do what I can for the team.

“I am feeling better than I have felt for the last few months. As players, it’s the biggest gamble, especially if you’re not feeling your sharpest.

Saka added: “At the end of the day, people don’t really care how you’re feeling, they expect you to deliver, they expect you to perform.

“I’m happy to take the gamble. It paid off, I’d say. I’m going to continue doing that. But I am feeling a lot better than I did in March and I’m ready to go.”