Mason Greenwood: Manchester United striker pulls out of England Euro 2020 squad with injury

United striker will spend summer recovering from underlying injury problem

Mason Greenwood has pulled out of England’s provisional Euro 2020 squad in order to recover from a pre-existing injury.

The Manchester United striker was one of the more surprising inclusions in Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad for this summer’s tournament, which was announced last week.

Southgate will trim that number down to 26 players later today but Greenwood will not be part of the final selection after opting to rest and recover from an underlying injury.

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The 19-year-old withdrew from the England Under-21s squad in March ahead of their European Championship campaign in March while suffering from the same, unspecified problem.

Greenwood made 13 appearances for United after the March international break, playing in all but one of their games over that period and starting 10 times.

A United statement said: “Manchester United striker Mason Greenwood has withdrawn from the provisional England Euro 2020 squad, in order to recover fully from an underlying injury that also kept him out of the Under-21 European Championship in March.

“Mason’s club appearances were managed carefully to maintain his availability through the intensive 2020/21 Premier League and Europa League schedules.

“But a further spell of tournament football would not be beneficial and Mason will remain at Manchester United to recuperate and prepare for pre-season training.”

Greenwood’s withdrawal means that Southgate will have a further six players to cut from his provisional squad before announcing the final 26-man line-up.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Ward-Prowse and Jesse Lingard are among those sweating over whether they will make the cut, with the uncapped trio of Aaron Ramsdale, Ben Godfrey and Ben White also waiting to learn their fate.

The England manager will hold a press conference at 6pm on Tuesday evening to explain his thinking and preview England’s first pre-tournament friendly against Austria at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on Wednesday night.