Thomas Tuchel has admitted that the mass withdrawal of Arsenal players from international camps looks ‘suspicious’ but is adamant that England duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are genuinely too injured to feature against Japan at Wembley on Tuesday night.
Rice and Saka have returned to their club without kicking a ball for England after reporting for duty to watch last Friday’s draw with Uruguay. The duo were part of a group of players given time off for that game but were originally expected to play tomorrow.
But both players left camp over the weekend along with club mate Noni Madueke, who was injured during the Uruguay game. This took the number of Arsenal players to have left national team meet-ups around the world to eleven, raising eyebrows given the Gunners have just lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and have a Champions League first leg against Sporting Lisbon to play next Tuesday.
Asked about it by talkSPORT today, Tuchel said: ‘Everyone can do the math and it’s a lot of players, of course.
‘During the situation, it looks a bit suspicious but I can only talk for our players.
‘I still have 100% trust in the honesty of Bukayo and Declan. We did medical tests. I saw them. I have no reason to believe that Declan is not honest with me. I have no reason to believe Bukayo is not honest. But given the amount of Arsenal players, I understand the look.’
Thomas Tuchel insists Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are genuinely too injured to play against Japan on Tuesday, after the Arsenal duo left the England camp
The England boss, however, admitted that the mass withdrawal of Arsenal players from international duty looks ‘suspicious’ with 11 having pulled out of their national teams
Noni Madueke is expected to be out of action for a while after sustaining an injury against Uruguay
Worryingly for Arsenal and their manager Mikel Arteta, Tuchel told the media that Madueke will be out of action for a while and hinted that Saka and Rice may yet face a battle to be fit for Lisbon.
‘Noni is out for some days and maybe some weeks,’ he said.
‘Everybody will be out for quite some days but not dramatically.
‘It’s disappointing, but I’m not upset with the players, I’m not angry with the players.
‘I got the feeling that everyone was desperate to come. Some of the injured players even stayed to start their treatment here. That just shows me they want to be around the group.
‘No one left straight away. Everyone stayed, had another dinner, had another night, had another breakfast, because it’s a good spirit and that’s how it should be.
‘I’m not sure if I want to give the nature of the injuries away. I think Arsenal would not be happy but Declan feels a discomfort since quite a while, and he’s playing through it, and he’s just now on the edge. It’s the same with Bukayo.
‘He played in pain through the Carabao final and we could see that he had not the same impact that he wishes to have for his club against Man City.
‘You can see it and he confirmed it straight away. He tried with treatment in the three days to get rid of it and be ready but it’s just too much of pain.
‘We will not push players now who are at 70 per cent through a friendly match.’
Tuchel will field a strong side on Tuesday night after his B team laboured against Uruguay.
Jude Bellingham will not be risked as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury but Tuchel is considering a start for Ben White at right-back.
