By Betsefy
Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson has been added to the England squad for the fixtures against Italy and Germany.
As expected, the 32-year-old was an absentee from the initial crop of 28 players which were named by Gareth Southgate last Thursday.
Henderson had suffered a hamstring injury against Newcastle United on August 31, subsequently ruling him out of Liverpool’s fixtures before the international break.
With Liverpool’s Premier League fixture against Chelsea on September 18 having been postponed, it is unclear whether Henderson would have been in contention to return for the match at Stamford Bridge.
However, the 69-cap veteran has now linked up with the rest of the crop at St Georges’ Park ahead of the UEFA Nations League double-header.
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The development comes after it was revealed over the weekend that Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips would be absent in the long term with a shoulder injury.
The summer arrival had endured a hugely frustrating start to life at the Etihad Stadium, being restricted to just 13 minutes of action across three substitute substitute appearances.
With one of those outings coming against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last week, the expectation was that the former Leeds United man would be named on the bench for Saturday’s meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nevertheless, the 26-year-old was not named in the group which left Molineux with a 3-0 victory, it later being revealed that he faced the prospect of surgery in due course.
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While there remains the possibility of Phillips making a return within the next six weeks, the Euro 2020 star only has that timeframe to prove his fitness to Southgate.
The matches with Italy and Germany – to be played on September 23 and 26 respectively – are the final two international fixtures before Southgate names his squad for the World Cup.
The Three Lions boss is due to provisionally announce his squad in the third week of October, leaving Phillips’s inclusion very much in doubt.
City have 12 fixtures ahead of them between October 2 and November 12 before their players link up with their respective national team squads.
