England boss Gareth Southgate has explained why he opted to leave Chelsea right-back Reece James out of England’s World Cup squad.

James suffered a knee injury in Chelsea’s Champions League clash with AC Milan last month but did not require surgery and instead began an intense rehabilitation programme in Dubai.

Southgate wasn’t convinced James will recover in time to play any of the group stage games in the World Cup against Iran, USA and Wales.

When asked about James’ omission from the squad, Southgate said: “Of course, we had to make a very difficult call with Reece, who we think is a fantastic player.

“But he wasn’t going to be available, if everything went perfectly, until the latter stages of the tournament, and there were too many unknowns for us on that road to recovery.

“And also I don’t think we can take a player who’s not available for the group, that would be deemed arrogant in some circles. But also, if everything went well and he was available and he was ready and we were picking him, then we’d be dropping him into a quarter-final after eight weeks out. That would be really demanding. A tough call.”