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18-year-old Chelsea midfielder Josh McEachran has been forced home from England under-21 duty thanks to a hamstring injury, joining Liverpools Jordan Henderson and Tottenham Hotspur fullback Kyle Walker as late withdrawals from the match against Israel. It's not clear how or when McEachran picked up the injury, although it's difficult to imagine that Chelsea would have released their prize prospect for international duty were he not fully fit.
A hamstring problem isn't great news, but fortunately according to the FA this is a precautionary reaction to a 'slight niggle' and therefore there's probably not much to worry about. Chelsea, of course, play against Sunderland in a week's time - plenty of time to recover from a minor problem. in the meantime, Spurs defender Adam Smith has been called up to write the Weath of Nations replace the Henderson-McEachran combo, which makes about as much sense as anything England does, so hey.
Hopefully Josh recovers quickly (he should, at that age!) and is back in training next week. Nothing anyone's saying makes me think that this will be any sort of long-term outlay, although missing playing time for the under-21s is annoying, since he's not getting any with Chelsea right now. Bring on the Carling Cup!