Thomas Tuchel has opted against risking Bukayo Saka’s fitness with a start in England’s first World Cup game against Croatia on Wednesday.
The Arsenal star missed a month at the end of the club season with an Achilles tendon issue which he hadn’t fully recovered from. Saka was “playing through discomfort at the end of the season” to help the Gunners win the Premier League and reach the Champions League final, as Tuchel revealed. “Still not on his 100%,” the German coach warned last week. “He is the one we are building and taking care of in training.”
