Ross Barkley lone Chelsea presence in 27-man England squad for Nations League

The England squad for the upcoming Nations League semifinal encounter with the Netherlands, and a potential final against either Portugal or Switzerland, could have included three Chelsea names.

It was looking a rather likely scenario, with Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi all making the last time out for England boss Gareth Southgate. But with the latter two struck down by injuries, possibly both with Achilles tears, only Barkley was able to get the call today.

“I went to bed last night and Ruben is in the squad and playing brilliantly and now it is a huge disappointment for him. He misses now a major European final and a brilliant opportunity with us.

”In particular he has really come on in the last few months and looked strong and playing with a lot of confidence and I am really disappointed for him in particular.”

-Gareth Southgate; source: Football.London

Much like nearly every game in these final few weeks, the timing of the Nations League is also far from ideal, with the first match is set to take place on June 6, which is just eight days after the Europa League final involving Chelsea and Arsenal, and five days following the Champions League final between Tottenham and Liverpool.

In fact, 9 of the 27 called up, which will be cut to 23 on May 27, will be participating in those European finals.

The full squad is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Jack Butland (Stoke City), Tom Heaton (Burnley), Jordan Pickford (Everton)

DEFENDERS: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

MIDFIELDERS: Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Nathan Redmond (Southampton), Declan Rice (West Ham United), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)

ATTACKERS: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth)