Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has reacted to the news that Chelsea’s Reece James will miss the World Cup for England.
James had been sweating on his involvement in the tournament after picking up an injury last month. And taking to his Instagram page today, the 22-year-old confirmed that he hasn’t been able to recover in time.
“Recover well mate,” Henderson wrote, putting aside club rivalries.
The Reds skipper is expected to be part of Gareth Southgate’s squad, which is set to be announced tomorrow.
Another one bites the dust ahead of mid-season tournament
James is just the latest example of a big player picking up an injury ahead of the World Cup. With so little turnaround time between last season and this one, this was always bound to happen.
Sadio Mane is another who could also now see his place at the tournament in jeopardy. The strain on players has become a little too much.
From a Liverpool point of view, we’ve seen this happen closer to home as well. Diogo Jota was all set to make his World Cup debut for Portugal later this month. Instead, he now looks set for an extended spell on the side-line.
It isn’t that these injuries may have happened anyway, but that there’s simply no buffer period between club football ending and the competition in Qatar starting.
Without that, this bizarre winter tournament is already due to be missing some stars.
In James’ specific case, it could actually have a knock-on effect for Liverpool, too. His forced omission will likely mean that Southgate has little option but to include Trent Alexander-Arnold in his squad.
With Kyle Walker also an injury doubt, the Liverpool right-back could even go as his country’s first choice.
That’s good news for Trent, who always wants to play for England. But as a player who tends to feature more often than not anyway, Jurgen Klopp will be praying that he stays healthy.
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