England head coach Thomas Tuchel has confirmed Bukayo Saka is a doubt for the World Cup opener against Croatia, as the Arsenal forward is still carrying an Achilles problem
Bukayo Saka is a major injury concern ahead of the World Cup.
England head coach Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that the Arsenal forward is still carrying an Achilles injury and may not be fit to start the tournament. Saka arrived late for England’s training camp but completed individual fitness work last weekend.
However, he is evidently behind his Arsenal colleagues Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke, who were also afforded additional recovery time by Tuchel following the Champions League final. England play Costa Rica on Wednesday, a week before their first World Cup game against Group L rivals Croatia.
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Tuchel said: “Declan is on 100%, and Bukayo is still getting there, playing through discomfort at the end of the season, but obviously managing it and playing at a high level, but still not on his 100%.
“He is the one we are building and taking care of in training, but Declan is 100%, Ebs is 100%, Noni is 100%.
“Bukayo is just not there yet. Some things are missing: consecutive training. They took very good care of him and were very aware of it at Arsenal, and we will do a little bit the same.
“So, step by step, he is at the moment not able to do every training session through the week and then play. He is still going to be managed.
“They decided together, Bukayo and Arsenal, to let him play through his pain and discomfort, even if it was not possible to train the whole week in the build-ups.
“He was decisive in the second leg against Atletico Madrid to bring them to the final, and he played the final. But like I said, he was managed in between, and this is what we do.
“The player and his needs and health are always first, so what we are doing now, we were monitoring on his week off, and now we are bringing him back on the pitch. Yesterday, he was not with us; today, he was and did the full training session.
“He is available for tomorrow, but he needs management to be fully, fully 100%, which he is not. I think it is very unlikely Bukayo starts and finishes all the matches from now on.”
Saka remains one of England’s most dependable and consistent performers, making his fitness a concern ahead of the final warm-up fixture against Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Tuchel intends to start what he believes will be close to his starting XI to face Croatia on June 17, with any players who fail to receive game time set to feature in a behind-closed-doors match against Miami FC on Thursday.
The England boss added: “We have to play Costa Rica, and this is very different from what Croatia will offer, but we will give players 60-70 minutes to play [and] to be ready for Croatia.”
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