Manchester United defender Phil Jones has been withdrawn from the England squad due to injury, with Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks being called up from the under-21s to replace him.
Twitter: #THFC’s Harry Winks has received his first England call-up after injury forced #MUFC defender Phil Jones & #MCFC’s Fabian Delph out of squad (@SimonPeach)
Jones had missed Monday’s morning training session with the Three Lions, and had been suffering from an ankle injury in recent weeks, although he played 90 minutes as United comfortably beat Crystal Palace at the weekend.
The 25-year-old has been in imperious form for United, forming a solid partnership at the back with Eric Bailly in the early parts of the season and starting all seven Premier League games for the Reds, being part of a side that has conceded a league goal in seven hours (stretching back to May 15).
However, United boss José Mourinho admitted that Jones had been playing through the pain barrier recently and had been managing an ankle problem.
He said:
He’s potentially a very good player, he’s still young and in a learning age but for years and years and years he was injury prone and he has a problem now, he has a problem now, he’s complaining about an ankle problem so he’s the kind of player where we need to have him always in our hands with a lot of care from the medical department the fitness coach, my assistants in the gym, working on prevention and recovery.
If we manage to have him safe from injuries he is everything I like in a central defender.
