England defender John Stones has been forced to pull out of the national team squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers after failing to recover from a muscular problem.
Manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed that the 31-year-old Manchester City centre-back, who has started all three of his club’s Premier League fixtures this season, arrived at the training camp with a fitness concern that showed little improvement.
“John came in with some minor issues, but unfortunately he hasn’t progressed as we expected,” Tuchel explained. “We don’t want to take unnecessary risks, so he left camp this morning. Everyone else is fit and available — we had 21 players in training yesterday and the same number today.”
Stones’ absence leaves Tuchel with Marc Guehi, Dan Burn, Ezri Konsa and Jarell Quansah as central defensive options for the two fixtures.
England host Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday before travelling to Serbia for a crucial away match on Tuesday.
