Declan Rice
Declan Rice
An international window of this length is supposed to give national teams extra matches. For clubs it often does the opposite, taking the same midfielders away for four games after a crowded opening month.
Withdrawals then change the picture. A player who looked certain to fly out on Monday can instead stay at the training ground while the rest of the country is in camp.
That matters most after a first league defeat. The next club fixture is three weeks away, and the squad that reports back will not be the same one that left.
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Declan Rice has withdrawn from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the Nations League fixtures. BBC Sport’s Alex Howell reported that Rice is among five players ruled out through injury issues, alongside Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford.
James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White have been called up as replacements.
Rice had been named in the original 27-man group last Friday with Ezri Konsa, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka. England host Spain at Wembley on 26 September, then travel to Czechia and Croatia before another meeting with Czechia at home on 6 October.
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🚨Declan Rice has withdrawn from the England squad for the upcoming international break.
The Arsenal midfielder will now get three weeks rest. pic.twitter.com/iB2vTFss22
— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) September 21, 2026
The Arsenal midfielder now stays behind for the full three-week break. The club’s next Premier League game is Leeds at the Emirates on 10 October.
He played the full 90 minutes in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton and was booked late on for kicking out at Malick Yalcouye. VAR cleared the incident as falling short of violent conduct. Alan Shearer called it frustration rather than a sending-off.
Rice has carried niggles through a long calendar. He spoke in the summer about managing neural pain in his hamstring and sat out England’s World Cup group game against Panama as a precaution. This withdrawal fits that pattern of clubs and country taking no extra risk when the next league date is already three weeks away.
For Mikel Arteta the practical gain is obvious. Rice, who started every league match this season and was paired with Bruno Guimaraes at the Amex, can recover on site rather than adding four internationals after a heavy defeat.
The other Arsenal England players remain in the squad unless further updates follow. Konsa, Lewis-Skelly, Eze and Saka are still due in camp.
Rice staying in London Colney does not by itself fix the midfield balance that Arteta said “didn’t work so well” at Brighton. It does mean the vice-captain of England will be available for the first session after the break, rather than arriving back on 7 October with four more games in his legs.
Brighton 3-0 Arsenal
Brighton 3-0 Arsenal