Foden to miss England´s Nations League trips after testing positive for COVID-19

Phil Foden will miss England’s UEFA Nations League trips to Hungary and Germany after testing positive for COVID-19, Gareth Southgate has announced.

England will face Hungary at the Puskas Arena on Saturday in their Nations League Group A3 opener before meeting old rivals Germany in Munich on Tuesday, but Foden will play no part in those contests after being forced to leave the Three Lions’ camp.

Foden enjoyed a stellar club campaign as Manchester City won their fourth Premier League title in the last six seasons, racking up 25 goal involvements (14 goals, 11 assists).

He was one of just three City players to record double figures for both goals and assists in all competitions (also Kevin De Bruyne with 19 goals and 14 assists, and Gabriel Jesus with 13 goals and 11 assists).

Southgate is hoping to have the 22-year-old back and available when his team return to England to host Italy and a return contest with Hungary, both to be played at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium.  

“Phil Foden, unfortunately, has tested positive for COVID-19, so he’s had to leave,” Southgate told reporters on Friday.

“Hopefully he’ll be able to meet up once we get back from Germany. 

“That very much depends on symptoms and how his breathing is when he gets back into training. Of course, it affects everybody differently. I think every team in the world is getting used to dealing with this kind of situation, really.”

23 players are involved in today’s session, with Marc Guéhi and @fikayotomori_ continuing to work on individual programmes indoors. @PhilFoden is absent through illness.@HKane will join Gareth Southgate for our pre-match press conference at 12.45pm. pic.twitter.com/YQJ1irQosM

— England (@England) June 3, 2022

Elsewhere, Southgate will assess Raheem Sterling’s fitness after the winger suffered from an illness, and will definitely be without young defenders Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi for the trip to Hungary, but hopes to have both available later this month. 

“Fikayo and Marc Guehi both arrived with injuries but they’re progressing well. They won’t be involved in tomorrow’s game but there’s a chance for some involvement against Germany,” he added.

“They should be fine for the games from there on. Other than that, Raheem has missed a couple of days’ training with an illness, so we’ll assess whether we involve him tomorrow, but everyone else is fully fit.”