After having his appendix removed, Phil Foden will miss England’s Euro 2024 playoff against Ukraine. The Manchester City midfielder was unable to stay in camp after training on Saturday due to illness, further reducing Gareth Southgate’s options in the outfield ahead of his team’s second Group C encounter.
When England plays Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday night, Southgate will give James Maddison his first international debut. Mason Mount, Marcus Rashford, and Reece James have already been forced to withdraw from the team due to injuries. Luke Shaw is also absent for England because he was suspended after receiving a red card during Thursday night’s 2-1 triumph over Italy.
Foden's News gat me like pic.twitter.com/TOIMoXSXVz
— Boluwatifetweets♡ (@Boluwatifetweet) March 26, 2023
During the second part of the match against Italy, Foden replaced Jack Grealish and it was unfortunate that he was removed after Shaw was sent off. In order to bolster his defense, Southgate chose to replace Foden with Kieran Trippier.
The 22-year-old, who was a frequent starter for his team during the World Cup, was aware of the reasons why he was sacrificed, but he had hoped to play against Ukraine. On Saturday, however, tragedy hit once more. When Foden went for a checkup, pancreatitis was discovered.
BREAKING: Phil Foden is ruled out of England's qualifier with Ukraine today following surgery to remove his appendix. pic.twitter.com/7WfdJhvdpA
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 26, 2023
The length of Foden’s recuperation has not been made clear. Additionally, his absence will be a setback for City as Pep Guardiola’s squad works to catch up to Arsenal at the summit of the Premier League and gets ready for its Champions League quarterfinal matchup against Bayern Munich next month. The likelihood that Foden will play against Liverpool on Saturday is extremely low.
