England Manager, Southgate Axes Trio For Breaching COVID-19 Protocols

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  • Chilwell, Sancho, Abraham miss England vs Wales tieĀ 

Tammy Abraham, Jadon Sancho, Ben Chilwell

England’s Manager, Gareth Southgate has confirmed that the trio of Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho, will not play any part in the Three Lions’ international friendly against Wales on Thursday after breaking coronavirus protocols.

He however warned that Englandā€™s young players have proven nothing yet and they must not to risk harming his squadā€™s reputation by their indiscipline and immature behaviours.

The Chelsea pair and Dortmund’s young star attended a surprise birthday party for Abraham, thereby flouting social and physical distancing rules

They were pictured attending Abraham’s 23rd birthday party on Sunday evening, with a reported 20 guests that exceeded the laws on social gatherings during the pandemic.

This latest development has taken the list of deviant English internationals to five after Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden were also left out of this latest squad following their non-compliance with COVID-19 rules during the last international window.

Chelsea star Abraham later apologised for the breach, stating that it was a surprise party he had no previous knowledge of but that he “deeply regrets” his “naivety”.

Also, Sancho regretted his actions, explaining via an Instagram post that “I would like to apologise for breaking the government guidelines and although I was unaware upon arriving of the numbers attending, I take full responsibility for my actions. I will make sure moving forward that I learn from this.”

Though Southgate accepts their contrition, he will not use any of the three in England’s latest outing while they may also be excluded for Sunday’s Nations League meeting with Belgium.

“I think the players have already accepted they were in the wrong,” he said.

“They had broken those lockdown guidelines that were there. I have to be careful being on my moral high-horse when we aren’t in camp with the team.

“We do have an issue with the COVID guidelines and making sure any players that comes in is as lower risk as possible. We are having to monitor the players, they are being tested today and tomorrow, we have to check for further symptoms. They obviously miss the game vs Wales.”

Furthermore, the England Coach went on to clarify that he takes no offence from Jose Mourinho’s slip, calling him ‘Gary’ on more than one occasion during a recent Tottenham press conference.

“I have to say that he messaged me anyway to apologise,” said Southgate.

“I knew because he has called me Gary before, in a news conference. I had no issue with that at all – I said there is only one Gareth (Bale) he needs to get right and he will score all the goals for him this year.

“In terms of the players, we have to look after all the players. I have been a player and I didn’t like it when managers took a risk with me but they never did.

“We don’t want players missing any football – I’m not prepared to risk players’ welfare.” – Additional agency reports

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