Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has explained why he pulled Carney Chukwuemeka out of the England U20 World Cup squad.

“He’s a Chelsea player and we’ve got injuries in that area,” Lampard told the Evening Standard.

“The situation with Carney is he’s come into a club, a big move for him, and this season hasn’t managed to get so many minutes [due to the size of the squad], and settling in at a new club.

“Hopefully there’s opportunity in these three games for him. He’s our player, and we have lost players we need him to stay.

“There’s a possibility he can join up at the end of the season if the team get through into the next stages. It might be the best of both worlds in an ideal way but it’s our player and we had to make that decision.

“I felt a bit for Carney, he was keen to go but at the same time what happened meant he had to stay.”