Reece James unlikely to join up with England squad, suggests Thomas Tuchel

The Chelsea defender is working his way back from injury

Reece James is unlikely to link up with England (PA Wire)

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has poured doubt on Reece James’ chances of joining up with the England squad next week.

The full-back, who has played only 147 minutes of football this calendar year, has been included in Gareth Southgate’s party for the friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast.

However, Tuchel insists he needs a week more in recovery from a leg muscle injury before he is ready to play.

The German was asked if he would be speaking to Southgate after his side’s 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win at Middlesbrough on Saturday evening, and said: “Petr Cech will have this chat because of course the recommendation is that he does not go.

“He’s still in individual training, otherwise we would have brought him to Lille and we would have brought him here, for sure.

“There is no doubt about it. He is still in individual training, needs one more week of individual rehabilitation and I think we can provide this much better. It’s not the job of the national team to do this.”