Raheem Sterling will not be involved in England's World Cup round-of-16 clash against Senegal due to family-related reasons, the Football Association has confirmed.
The former Liverpool and Manchester City winger was a surprise omission from Gareth Southgate's squad when the England manager named his side to take on the 2022 African Cup of Nations winners at the Al Bayt Stadium. However, the FA have since confirmed that the 27-year-old missed out on the occasion due to family reasons.
It means that Southgate will only have 13 players on the bench for Sunday evening's clash in Al-Khor, with Arsenal defender Ben White leaving the Three Lions' training camp earlier in the week for what was cited as 'personal reasons'.
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After scoring his first World Cup goal in England's emphatic 6-2 victory over Iran in their opening Group B clash, Sterling would have been in contention to start the knockout tie against the West African side but his absence has instead seen starts handed to Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in attack.
The Times are reporting that Sterling is currently weighing up whether his family issues can be solved from Doha or if he needs to fly back to the United Kingdom. However, if he was to fly back to England in order to address any problems, he would be eligible to return to Qatar and reunite with his team-mates if they advanced into the latter stages of the tournament.
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