TOTTENHAM PLAYER CALLED UP TO ENGLAND SQUAD TO REPLACE INJURED NEWCASTLE STAR
Tottenham goalkeeper Fraser Forster has been recalled to the England squad to replace injured Newcastle star Nick Pope.
Pope was named in Gareth Southgate’s 25-man squad on Thursday, as England begin their qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 with games against Italy and Ukraine.
The 30-year-old was selected alongside fellow keepers Jordan Pickford of Everton and Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal.
However, on Sunday it was announced that he had been forced to pull out of international duty, with The Athletic reporting that he has been suffering from a minor injury for the last week
They claim Pope had missed much of training and was playing through the pain barrier during Newcastle’s 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest on Friday.
It is a great shame for the keeper who has been enjoying a fantastic season with the Magpies and, alongside Ramsdale, is leading the race for the Premier League Golden Glove with 12 clean sheets so far this season.
His place in the Three Lions squad will be taken by Forster who won the last of his six England cap seven years ago.
The 35-year-old was part of Roy Hodgson’s squads for World Cup 2014 and Euro 2016 but was firmly behind Joe Hart in the pecking order.
Forster signed for Tottenham on a free from Southampton last summer to serve as back-up but has been in-between the sticks for the past month following an injury to Hugo Lloris.
He has kept five clean sheets in 12 matches so far for Spurs but unfortunately was part of the teams that got eliminated from the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
He’ll join fellow Tottenham teammates Harry Kane and Eric Dier in the England squad as they prepare to travel to Italy this Thursday before hosting Ukraine at Wembley next Sunday.
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2023-03-19T12:59:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd