England star Jarrell Quansah will miss Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Latvia due to injury. The centre-back returned from camp ahead of the trip to Riga.
Quansah, who is yet to make his international debut, was included in Thomas Tuchel’s 24-man squad, along with fellow centre-backs John Stones, Marc Guehi, Dan Byrne and Ezri Konsa, ahead of Thursday’s friendly against Wales. However, the former Liverpool player, who joined Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, did not come off the bench against Craig Bellamy’s side as the Three Lions won 3-0. England confirmed Quansah had returned to Germany as a “precautionary measure”, and manager Tuchel decided not to call up his replacement.
Leverkusen paid £35m to sign Quansah from Anfield in early July, where he made 58 appearances for Liverpool.
The 22-year-old scored on his Bundesliga debut against Hoffenheim in August and played in all of Leverkusen’s first nine games of the season ahead of this month’s international break.
His nine appearances included two starts in the Champions League, with Leverkusen opening their European campaign with draws against Copenhagen and PSV.
And the defender has even been asked to impress two managers already in the early stages of his career in Germany, with Kasper Urmand taking over in early September after former Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag was sacked after just two months in the job.
England, who have won the first five World Cup qualifiers under Tuchel, will be overwhelming favorites to beat Latvia on Tuesday night.
The German has already led the Euro 2024 finalists to victory over Latvia during their qualifying campaign, two wins against Andorra and wins against Albania and Serbia.
The Three Lions’ qualifying campaign concludes with back-to-back games against Serbia and Albania in November, with the World Cup finals starting in June next year.
England had scored all three goals against Wales by midway through the first half, with Morgan Rodgers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka finding the back of the net.
After the match, coach Tuchel said, “We only had a day and a half to prepare against a complex opponent. It took a lot of effort to shut them down like we did.”
“We’re playing almost like a club team. We’re very flexible, but we’re staying true to our structure. Everyone is ready to accept their roles, do their invisible work and help each other. I’m very happy with the next step.”
