Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount out of England squad

Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount are out of the England squad to face Italy and Ukraine this month. Fraser Forster has replaced the injured Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope.

Mount has missed the last few Chelsea games with a pelvic injury. Boss Graham Potter admitted he was surprised to see the midfielder included in the latest Three Lions squad.

He said after Chelsea’s draw with Everton on Saturday: “Probably, as a club, we will [seek clarification]. As far as I was aware, he wasn’t going to be available for us at the weekend. He needed a bit of time for his injury to settle down, which pretty much ruled him out of England.

“Whether that means they needed a bit of time to double-check that, I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything untoward at all, it’s more sometimes these things can be named but there are still a couple of days where things can be changed. But from my selection perspective, he was unavailable for the weekend.”

Meanwhile, Manchester United forward Rashford will also miss the two Euro 2024 March qualifiers. The 25-year-old went off with an injury during the Red Devils’ FA Cup win over Fulham.

Rashford will be a major miss for Gareth Southgate and was in line to start both games. The attacker has scored 29 goals for club and country already this season, but will now return to his club to have his injury assessed.

Neither Rashford nor Mount will be replaced in the squad. Instead, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, James Maddison, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney will battle for a place alongside Harry Kane in attack.

With Mount out, Southgate will pick his midfield from Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice.

Elsewhere, in-form Tottenham goalkeeper Forster has been called up to replace Pope. The Newcastle man played through an injury in the Magpies’ 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest on Friday night and has now pulled out of the England squad.

Southgate’s side face Italy in Naples on Thursday before hosting Ukraine in what is likely to be an emotional event at Wembley Stadium. North Macedonia and Malta make up the rest of qualifying Group C.

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