A Real Madrid first team superstar has been downright disrespected by his national side after once again being overlooked for the FIFA World Cup
It was not lost on many that Real Madrid only had 11 players selected for this summer's FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Fewer than Crystal Palace. And this includes Endrick, who was called up as a result of his form for Lyon.
Well, technically it is now 12, with Marc Cucurella consciously announced by the club before Spain's opener with Cape Verde, to technically ensure that the club did indeed have a player in the Spain squad.
Some of it was circumstantial. Rodyrgo and Eder Militao would have certainly been in the Brazil squad if they were not injured, whilst Andriy Lunin's Ukraine side did not qualify for the tournament.
Nevertheless, there were still some big omissions. The two most notable snubs were Eduardo Camavinga, who was not called up to the French national team, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was not named in the 26 man England squad.
Although it was generally agreed that Reece James deserved to be England's starting right-back, as a player who has played for Thomas Tuchel at club level, and played a much bigger part than Alexander-Arnold in qualifying. However, fans were outraged that he was not at least the second option ahead of Newcastle United's Tino Livramento.
Well, earlier on today - Tuesday the 16th of June - it was confirmed that Livramento would miss the tournament through injury. When the squad was announced, he had not played in more than a month. He manged to recover and play 45 minutes in one of the two warm up games, but he was not able to make the final squad, and has officially dropped out.
So, time for Alexander-Arnold, right? No. Amazingly, Tuchel has decided to opt for central defender Trevoh Chalobah instead, despite nominal centre halves John Stones, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn and Jarrell Quansah all being in the squad already. Clearly a sixth centre back over the most creative full-back in the world was the necessary choice.
Just unbelievable really and downright disrespectful. Oh well, England's loss is Real Madrid's gain. He will have the summer off to try and fully physically recover from the issues he had in the first half of last season, and he can work with new manager Jose Mourinho from the start of pre-season. Can't help but be sad for him on a personal level, however. Let's hope he uses this as motivation.
