Kalvin Phillips pulls out of England squad and faces Man City absence with shoulder injury

Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips has been forced to pull out of the England squad due to a shoulder injury, which may require surgery.

Phillips was among 28 senior players Gareth Southgate called up to the Three Lions camp on Thursday for upcoming matches against Italy and Germany, but the former Leeds United man won’t be involved.

A shoulder injury forced Phillips to sit out Saturday’s Premier League victory for City at Molineux, with Jack Grealish, Ering Haaland and Phil Foden on target in a 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The problem may require Phillips to undergo surgery and has forced him to withdraw from the latest England squad.

Surgery would also put his chances of making the World Cup in serious doubt, with the tournament in Qatar starting in a little over two months’ time.

Phillips was a key part of the England team that made it to the final of Euro 2020 last summer, featuring in all seven matches for the Three Lions.

He remains a valued player for Southgate, who name checked the 26-year-old earlier this week when announcing his squad, and included him despite an injury-plagued start to the 2022/23 campaign.

“Clearly, we have a number of players including Ben Chilwell, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips who are not playing a lot of minutes with their club,” he said on Thursday. “It is not ideal, but we feel they have been, and can be, important players for us.”

Phillips has played just 14 minutes for City this campaign due to injury, while he missed around four months of last season with a hamstring issue.

It has left the Premier League champions light in the middle with three of Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva tending to make up City’s midfield in the early weeks of the season.

As for England, they are also short on bodies with Jordan Henderson injured, leaving Southgate to choose between Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and James Ward-Prowse in the middle of the pitch.

The Three Lions play Italy in Milan on Friday before hosting Germany at Wembley four days later in their final Nations League group games.