Bukayo Saka is carrying an Achilles issue into the World Cup, England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted, revealing the Arsenal winger is still not fully fit and is unlikely to start and finish every match in the tournament.
Saka joined the England camp in West Palm Beach on Saturday after being given an extra week off following the Champions League final, where he was substituted in the 83rd minute of Arsenal's penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. While his Arsenal teammates Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke – also given extra rest – are at 100% fitness, Saka is not.
“Bukayo Saka is playing through an Achilles injury and may not be ready to start England's World Cup opener.”
“Declan is on 100% and Bukayo is still getting there, playing through discomfort at the end of the season,” Tuchel told a news conference. “He is the one we are building and taking care of in training. Declan is 100%, Ebs is 100%, Noni is 100%. Bukayo is just not there yet. Some things are missing … consecutive trainings.”
The 24-year-old, who has scored 14 goals in 48 England appearances, has been managing a muscle injury since March, which he carried through the climax of Arsenal's Premier League title-winning campaign. Tuchel said Arsenal and Saka decided together to let him play through the pain, even when he could not train fully during the week. “He was decisive in the second leg against Atletico Madrid to bring them to the final, he played the final. But like I said, he was managed in between, and this is what we do,” Tuchel said.
After Saturday's 1-0 win over New Zealand, in which Tuchel made 11 changes at half-time, England face Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday in their final warm-up game. Tuchel plans to give players 60 to 70 minutes to build fitness ahead of the World Cup opener against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June. Saka trained fully on Tuesday and is available for the Costa Rica match, but will continue to be managed. “It is very unlikely Bukayo starts and finishes all the matches from now on,” Tuchel added.
With Madueke the only other pure right winger in the squad, Tuchel said Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford could also play in that position, but stressed clarity is crucial. “We will hopefully not have a lot of experiments in the tournament,” he said.