Soccer
Jude Bellingham will not be risked in England’s friendly against Japan
Jude Bellingham trained with team-mates on the eve of the Japan friendly but Thomas Tuchel does not plan to risk the midfielder in England’s final fixture before choosing his World Cup squad.
The 22-year-old is working his way back from the hamstring issue that reduced him to tears at the start of February, only returning to action for Real Madrid as a late substitute eight days ago.
Bellingham has continued his rehab with England having been included in March’s 35-man squad and Tuchel initially hoped he could feature against Japan after sitting out Friday’s 1-1 draw against Uruguay.
But despite making good progress and taking part in Monday’s session at Tottenham’s training complex, Tuchel is set to reduce him to a watching brief at Wembley yet again.
“I think it’s too much of a risk,” the England head coach told BBC Radio 5 Live. “So, the tendency is that he will not play.
“We have all gained from him being part of it. He was excellent in training, but he was involved as a neutral player. He was involved in not the whole 100 per cent of the training.
“So, it looked very, very good but we’re still holding him back, to not take a risk.
“The injury is a muscle, it’s a very particular one, and we absolutely don’t want the re-injury in this moment of the season.
“And him as well, it was very good that he was in camp. He was excellent. But the tendency is that he won’t play.”
Bellingham was among 26 players that took part in Monday’s session at Spurs’ state-of-the-art training ground.
Jordan Henderson, who captained the side against Uruguay, followed his own programme indoors away from the main group.
