Newcastle United man trains away from England squad today as reason why emerges

Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has been training away from the rest of the England squad today. He came off the bench yesterday as the Three Lions beat Iran 6-2 in their first World Cup game in Qatar.

As per journalist Nizaar Kinsella on Twitter (see tweet below), the forward is doing some ‘solo conditioning work’ instead. It appears Gareth Southgate is carefully managing him due to his previous injury record and doesn’t want to risk him picking something up so early in the tournament.

Eyebrows were raised by some when Wilson was chosen in the 26-man squad ahead of former Newcastle man Ivan Toney at Brentford. However, the fact he came on against Iran shows he is a player who is highly thought of and could play a bigger part than first expected.

The ex-Coventry City and Bournemouth attacker has been in decent form for the Toon Army in the league this term and helped them rise up to 3rd place in the Premier League table. He has made 11 appearances and has chipped in with a useful six goals, only two off what he managed in the whole of the last campaign.

Wilson is a player who has had his injury woes in his career but when kept fit, he has proven himself at the top level. He provides Southgate with a useful alternative option up top to Harry Kane and England are carefully managing his training programme ahead of their next group game agianst USA this Friday.