England stars’ causes for pulling out of Lee Carsley’s first Three Lions squad

England stars Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins have pulled out of Lee Carsley’s first squad ahead of matches against Ireland and Finland.

Manchester City ace Foden was unable to join the squad due to illness, which also caused him to miss his team’s victory over West Ham. The 24-year-old has only played 45 minutes in the Premier League so far in the 2024/25 season.

Chelsea’s star man Palmer and Aston Villa striker Watkins were evaluated at St George’s Park before returning to their respective clubs. It was decided it would be more beneficial for them to recover from “ongoing issues” away from the Three Lions squad.

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Chelsea did not clarify the nature of Palmer’s problem in a statement, which said: “Palmer will return to Cobham to continue rehabilitation for ongoing issues for the remainder of this international break.” Villa meanwhile made no statement regarding Watkins, who has been withdrawn just after the hour mark in the club’s first three Premier League matches of the season.

Currently, no additional players are expected to join the group, after Carsley announced a 26-man squad upon becoming the senior team’s manager for the first time. The ex-Everton midfielder moved up from the under-21 side after Gareth Southgate resigned from England duties following a loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

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In his first role as interim England boss, Carsley selected some young players he is familiar with. Newcomers like Noni Madueke, Tino Livramento, Angel Gomes and Morgan Gibbs-White were included for the first time, reports the Mirror.

England face the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday before playing Finland at Wembley a few days later. These matches mark the start of England’s Nations League campaign in League B Group 2, with Greece being the remaining team the Three Lions will compete against.

After announcing his squad last week, Carsley was full of praise for the talent at his disposal. The 50-year-old outlined his attacking strategy, saying: “The amount of players we’ve got available to us in terms of their attributes and strengths, we’re really lucky in that department.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s easier to be attacking when you’ve got a lot of attacking options.” Reflecting on his playing days, he added: “The majority of my teams when I was playing were very defensive.

“When I started coaching, it was something I wanted to try and get away from. I’d played in teams where you were very well-organised and you sat in and every now and then you had the ball, and then you broke.”

He concluded by expressing his coaching philosophy: “But I was mindful as a coach of how I wanted the players to feel. I want our players to be on the ball, I want our team to attack. I want us to be expansive.”