Blow for England as Chelsea star misses Euros with back injury

Rob McCarthy

Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been ruled out of Euro 2017 after England Under-21s named their final squad.

The 21-year-old has been struggling with a back injury and will not make the trip to Poland next week.

Boss Aidy Boothroyd is also without the injured Patrick Roberts and Izzy Brown ahead of the tournament opener against holders Sweden on June 16 in Kielce.

The trio reported to St George’s Park for last week’s training camp and were assessed by the medical team but will not travel for the tournament.

Boothroyd told thefa.com: “We have some good players and like for any international team, bringing them all together and getting them all to work as a single unit, that is always the challenging part.

“But we’ve got players with big-game experience now, lads who have played in cup finals, play-off finals, big games and a couple of senior internationals.

“In this particular age group we have a very capable, mature squad with a nice balance between the soldiers and the artists, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“I think we’re well equipped on paper and it’s now about putting some hard work in on the grass, which we’ve been doing over the last three weeks to be ready for the tournament.”

Chelsea’s Loftus-Cheek has been struggling with a back problem and made just 11 appearances for Chelsea last season.

Roberts, on loan from Manchester City, won the treble with Celtic and Brown helped Huddersfield to promotion to the Premier League via the Sky Bet Championship play-offs and long seasons have not helped their recovery.

Skipper James Ward-Prowse and Southampton team-mate Nathan Redmond are included ahead of their final under-21 tournament before they become too old.

Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will also go along with Leicester duo Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Nathaniel Chalobah.

Senior boss Gareth Southgate confirmed last week Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford would not go to Euro 2017 and would instead stay with the senior side for their games against Scotland and France. United boss Jose Mourinho had previously said he saw no point in Rashford playing at the tournament.

Abraham, Redmond, Gray and Fulham’s Cauley Woodrow are likely to be Boothroyd’s central striker options.

Southampton midfielder Sam McQueen and Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith are on standby.

The Young Lions also face rookies Slovakia on June 19 and hosts Poland on June 22 in Group A.

England squad: Gunn (Manchester City), Mitchell (Derby), Pickford (Sunderland), Chambers (Arsenal), Chilwell (Leicester), Hause (Wolves), Holding (Arsenal), Holgate (Everton), Iorfa (Wolves), Mawson (Swansea), Stephens (Southampton), Targett (Southampton), Baker (Chelsea), Chalobah (Chelsea), Grealish (Aston Villa), Hughes (Derby), Swift (Reading), Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Abraham (Chelsea), Gray (Leicester), Murphy (Norwich), Redmond (Southampton), Woodrow (Fulham).