Dowman withdraws from England U19 squad with contact injury

Credit: Getty Images

Max Dowman has pulled out of the England Under-19 squad through injury, with the 16-year-old leaving Ben Futcher's camp just 24 hours before their fixture against Belgium.

The Arsenal teenager had been called up after a standout night at Portman Road, where he scored twice in the Gunners' 4-2 Carabao Cup win at Ipswich before the international break.

He then featured in England's matches against the Republic of Ireland, Norway and the United States, registering a goal and an assist across those games — though his trip was not without incident. Dowman was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge midway through the second half of the 2-1 win over the US on Friday.

No major concerns over Dowman's knock

According to The Sun, Dowman's problem is a contact injury and the decision was taken inside the England camp not to take any unnecessary risks with the teenager. There are said to be 'no major concerns' over the knock, with Dowman not expected to be sidelined for a 'significant period'.

Because the fixtures form part of a friendly tournament, the red card would not have ruled him out of the Belgium game had he been passed fit.

Dowman's rise has been one of the defining stories of Arsenal's season so far, and his brace against Ipswich underlined why Mikel Arteta has been willing to hand him minutes in cup competition at such a young age.

Arsenal's wider international break casualty list

Dowman is not the only player connected to the Emirates to have picked up a problem over the past fortnight. Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis both withdrew from duty with Germany and Greece respectively due to hamstring injuries, while Ezri Konsa also left the England camp.

Thomas Tuchel offered an update on Konsa on Monday, telling reporters: "Ezri felt discomfort when he came into camp, played with it against Spain and it got a bit worse so he stayed in camp and tried everything for the match against Czechia but it came too soon."

"He tried everything for the game in Croatia, got the green light and came through all the training sessions so was ready to play. Unfortunately, he got another hit on the quad and that caused a light trauma and we decided not to let him play through this pain, so he left camp to get treatment for both his issues now. I think it is nothing major but not worth the risk taking."

Declan Rice had already pulled out of Tuchel's squad last month over load management concerns.

Arsenal return to Premier League action at home to Leeds United on Saturday, looking to bounce back from defeat at Brighton. The reigning champions sit three points behind league leaders Manchester City heading into the weekend, with Arteta set to assess the fitness of his returning internationals in the days ahead.