Injury Ends Flanagan’s Hopes Of Making His England Under-19s Debut

Liverpool defender John Flanagan’s hopes of making his England Under-19s debut have been dashed by a calf injury.

The 18-year-old full-back was set to take his bow in their European Championship qualifiers this week but has been forced to return home from Switzerland

“I’m obviously disappointed, particularly as I’ve not played for England before,” Flanagan said.

“But I won’t let it overshadow what has been a very good season for me and I’ll be raring to go when pre-season gets underway.”

Liverpool still have five players in the England squad for the elite qualifying round matches against Montenegro, Spain and host nation Switzerland.

Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom, Conor Coady, Thomas Ince and Michael Ngoo are all in Noel Blake’s 17-man squad. Jonjo Shelvey was also initially selected but he’s sidelined by a knee problem

The first of three games is against Montenegro in Yverdone tomorrow and only one team will progress to the finals in Romania in July.