Bukayo Saka's fitness hangs in the balance for England as he missed a crucial training session ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Andorra. England's manager Thomas Tuchel confessed that Arsenal's Saka barely managed one complete training session due to a knock received prior to the camp.
Despite the setback, Tuchel was quick to express his confidence in Saka's long-term contribution to England and lauded him as an exceptional talent for both club and country. After being absent for a significant part of last season following a hamstring operation, Saka found himself out of Tuchel's first squad a few months ago.
Tuchel shared that he was concerned Saka would miss the qualifier: "He came into camp with a little bit of discomfort from the last match against Southampton, so we took care of him and treated him individually until today basically.
"It was the first training session that he started and finished with the group. Yesterday, he started with the group but did not finish with the group, so let's see.
"I'm not sure if we take the risk for tomorrow's game. The decision has not been taken, but he will be available for the Senegal match, and he plays a major role in our thoughts how to build a competitive team."
Tuchel concluded by praising Saka's influential presence at Arsenal saying: "I think just that he grew in his personality with every season that he played so consistently for his club, and the club grew with him and became so competitive.
"He was just a driver in all this development at Arsenal - one of the key players, one of the main drivers of this competitiveness.
"Until his latest injury he was more or less always available, always playable every three days. He had this consistency in his game and in his body, which made him very unique.
"He was decisive for England, he took responsibility, he bounced back after [a] kind of decisive and dramatic penalty miss.
"It's nice to see that he's back because he wanted to be back, and you straight away see when he comes in that he is comfortable to be with the squad, he knows what it takes to be a national player."