De Ligt, Bellingham, Chiesa: The surprising omissions from national team squads | OneFootball

Reece James has withdrawn from the England squad and been replaced by Manchester City defender Nico O’Reilly.

Just four weeks on from the last international break star players such as Harry Kane, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele and are now joining up with their national teams.

But not everyone was selected this time round, whether it be due to injury, suspension or for other reasons. We look at the biggest players to have missed out on a call up for the latest round of World Cup qualifiers…

Jude Bellingham – England

The Real Madrid star has come up trumps for England on a number of occasions in the past, including scoring a last minute overhead kick to stop England from being knocked out of Euro 2024 by Slovakia, but Thomas Tuchel has left him out of the squad.

Bellingham was left out of the squad for England’s latest wins over Andorra and Serbia in September after having shoulder surgery but he has since returned to the Madrid team playing the last four games.

Tuchel responded to his decision to leaving the midfielder out, saying: “For this camp we decided that we stick with our straightforward decision to invite the same team from September. That applies also then for Jude. He deserves always to be in camp.

“I think there is an extra layer on top of it, the situation that he has not gathered full rhythm yet at Real Madrid.

“He is back in the team. He hasn’t finished one full match until now. He has only started one match, so he is at the moment in the period where he gets his rhythm, where he gets back to full strength.”

Matthijis de Ligt – Netherlands

Man Utd defender Mathjis de Ligt (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Despite starting all seven of Manchester United’s Premier League matches this season, de Ligt has been left out of Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad.

The defender has been heavily criticised for his past performances for the Dutch, especially in their Nations League clash against Germany in September 2024 where he was at fault for both goals and was brought off at half time.

Phil Foden

Phil Foden (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Foden has looked more like his old self lately but has not done enough to earn an England recall, with Tuchel insisting the players from the previous squad again deserve another opportunity.

Jack Grealish

Jack Grealish celebrates his first Everton goal (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

The same goes for Grealish, who despite impressing for Everton is again not part of the Three Lions squad to face Wales and Latvia.

Leroy Sane

Sane continues to be left out by Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann, having moved from Bayern Munich to Galatasaray this summer.

Federico Chiesa

The Italy forward has had a frustrating spell at his club side, Liverpool which has also impacted his national team chances. Despite looking better this season, he has not earned a recall.