Bulgaria’s head coach, Illian Illiev, has moved to shut down any claims that Leeds United midfielder Ilia Gruev has caused fractures in the national team dressing room, although reaffirmed injury fears in his explanation.
Illiev explained that he left Gruev out of the line-up Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Georgia in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier due to the 25-year-old sustaining a knock, albeit did bring him on at half-time. Gruev managed to play the full 45 minutes.
Afterwards, reports from native sports news outlets emerged claiming that Gruev had argued with the head coach after the 3-0 defeat to Spain on Thursday and was going to be left out of the squad for Georgia until the nation’s FA stepped in to reinstate him.
As per Fakti, Illiev attempted to close down the speculation - but reconfirmed Gruev was indeed carrying an issue over the international period, something he hinted at earlier this week.
Illiev declared: "Let the one who said there was a scandal explain. You saw that Ilia played the first match, entered the second match. He was absent [due to] physical problems that did not allow him to start the match. But then he entered and did well.
“Do you think that if he had any problems, he would have been in the squad and then entered? And to try like that. Because maybe after his injury, one of his strongest matches for the national team?"
Daniel Farke is expected to outline on Thursday whether Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka are available to face Fulham after their absences due to knee injuries. If neither are able to start, Gruev would very likely be fielded alongside Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff in a 4-3-3 formation.
The fact that Gruev managed to complete the second half of Bulgaria’s match on Sunday gives hope that the midfielder will be fit after five days of rest, prior to the trip to Craven Cottage.
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