Reece James withdraws from England squad as uncapped replacement named

Reece James has dropped out of the England squad and been replaced by the uncapped Nico O'Reilly. The Chelsea captain suffered an injury during their dramatic 2-1 victory at home to Liverpool on Saturday.

James, 25, will now miss England's friendly against Wales at Wembley on Thursday before Thomas Tuchel's side face Latvia away from home in a World Cup qualifier next Tuesday. The fixtures could see 20-year-old O'Reilly make his senior England debut.

The Manchester City starlet was initially named in Lee Carsley's under-21 squad, having played for England at every age group from under-15 level. O'Reilly played the full 90 minutes as City beat Brentford 1-0 on Sunday, having broken into the first-team team under Pep Guardiola last season.

Last month, the City left-back was handed a new five-year contract. Guardiola was delighted by the news, saying: "Rico Lewis, now Nico O'Reilly, Savinho is close and in the past Ruben (Dias) has done it (signed a new contract) as well.

"We want him, so we did the effort that we need to help him stay here longer. I'm really pleased because Nico is growing a lot.

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"Since he started playing, I think we have lost just one game in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace. Nico helped us a lot, he improved his aggression, [he's dangerous] from set-pieces, with the ball and we are really pleased."

James' injury is believed to be a wound on his shin. The Chelsea right-back played the full game to help Enzo Maresca's men beat Liverpool but revealed the gash on social media after the match.

His injury adds to a growing crisis in defence for the Blues. Maresca was without four centre-backs heading into Saturday before two more came off injured, although it turns out that they were taken off as 'precautions'.

Did Nico O'Reilly deserve a first England call-up? Have your say in the comments section.

Chelsea coach Willy Caballero, fielding questions after Maresca had been sent off for overcelebrating their 96th-minute winner, told reporters: "The two central defenders, it was just prevention.

"They made a great effort today, but just prevention. We spoke with them already and they said that they are okay, so [it is] good for us."

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