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Jude Bellingham expected to miss England’s friendly against Japan


Jude Bellingham trained with his England teammates ahead of their friendly against Japan, but manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed the midfielder will not be risked, despite the imminent World Cup squad announcement.

The 22-year-old is working his way back from a hamstring issue that reduced him to tears in early February, having only returned to Real Madrid action as a late substitute eight days ago.

Tuchel had initially hoped Bellingham, included in March’s 35-man squad, could feature against Japan after missing Friday’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay.

However, despite good progress and participating in Monday’s session at Tottenham’s training complex, Tuchel will keep him as a spectator at Wembley once again.

Jude Bellingham expected to miss England’s friendly against Japan
Jude Bellingham has been training with England but is only just back from injury (Bradley Collyer/PA)

“I think 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.

“So, it looked very, 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.

Jordan Henderson has trained away from the main group (Bradley Collyer/PA)
Jordan Henderson has trained away from the main group (Bradley Collyer/PA)

“And him as well, it was very good that he was in camp. He was excellent. But the tendency is that he won’t play.”

Bellingham was among 26 players that took part in Monday’s session at Spurs’ state-of-the-art training ground.

Jordan Henderson, who captained the side against Uruguay, followed his own programme indoors away from the main group.

Tuchel added that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were desperate to play for England but felt the risk of the Arsenal duo aggravating injuries was “way too big” at this stage of the season.

The German coach picked an expanded 35-man squad for the final camp before making his World Cup selection, with the first wave of players joined by 11 established names on Friday.

Rice and Saka were among the late arrivals but, having watched the 1-1 draw with Uruguay at Wembley, were among five injury withdrawals the following day, along with Arsenal team-mate Noni Madueke.