England have suffered an injury blow on the eve of their World Cup opener against Croatia, with Newcastle’s Tino Livramento ruled out of the competition. Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah has been called up as his replacement.
Livramento picked up the calf injury in training on Sunday. Sources have told ESPN he is likely to be out for a period of six weeks. That timeframe rules him out of the World Cup so England have turned to Chalobah to replace him.
“Arrangements are now being made for the Chelsea defender to make the journey to the team’s base camp in Kansas City, while the rest of the squad will head to Dallas, Texas for the Three Lions’ opening group fixture against Croatia on Wednesday,” a statement from the FA read.
“FIFA regulations allow participating teams to replace an outfield player up to 24 hours before their opening fixture.”
The news will come as a sizeable blow to Thomas Tuchel’s plans. Livramento can cover both right and left back but came into the tournament low on match time having missed the last two months of the season with a thigh injury.
He played the second half of England’s 1-0 win over New Zealand in Florida, but was an unused substitute for their final pre-World Cup warmup against Costa Rica.
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