After Jordan Henderson and Harry Winks have both pulled out and England's
gaffer, Gareth Southgate had to call on Danny Drinkwater last week about being
part of the squad for the first time since he took charge.
The man Chelsea signed from
Leicester for £35m in the summer has been excused in the past for a number of
reasons – bruised ribs, the need to rest a groin problem and a calf injury.
But despite making four
appearances for Chelsea since October 25 since finally overcoming the latter
problem, the 27-year-old turn down Southgate’s request.
The England manager is dealing
with somewhat of an injury crisis ahead of friendlies against Germany and
Brazil this week, with seven senior players having pulled out of his squad to
return to their clubs for treatment.
“He felt
he wasn’t ready yet to play this level,” Southgate said. “We had a bit of this
conversation last week – I wanted to find out where he felt he was.
“If Danny didn’t feel he was ready, I can
understand given the amount of minutes he’s had and didn’t play at the end of
the season with Leicester either.
“But we might have other players back by the
next internationals in March. I can’t hypothesise over who I might be calling
in.”
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