Yahoo News Stoke City midfielder pulls out of international duty as teammates travel world
Jordan Thompson has pulled out of Northern Ireland’s Nations League campaign to recover from an injury which forced him out of the last two Stoke City games.
The 27-year-old midfielder, now Stoke's longest-serving first team player, was due to meet up with Michael O’Neill’s squad for games against Luxembourg and Bulgaria but a calf strain has put paid to what would be a chance to add to his 38 international caps.
He is expected to be back available for Stoke’s trip to Oxford United in the Championship on Saturday, September 14 (12.30pm) in what is a competitive midfield department following late summer transfer business.
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Wouter Burger played in the holding role in a 1-0 win at Plymouth, sitting behind Andrew Moran and Bae Junho. Bosun Lawal is hoping to get the green light to step up his training, Tatsuki Seko arrived on deadline day and Sol Sidibe is bursting onto the senior scene. Ben Pearson is hoping to join in training in October after hamstring surgery and will need time to build himself up to be in contention.
There are still nine players in Stoke’s squad who have been summoned for international duty over the next few days plus Freddie Anderson is on standby for England under-19s.
Sidibe and Jaden Dixon are in the England under-18s squad for the Lafarge Foot Avenir tournament in France involving games against Portugal (Wednesday, 2pm), Switzerland (Friday, 2pm) and the hosts (Sunday, 5pm).
Emre Tezgel, loan signing Ashley Phillips and Tommy Simkin, who is on loan at Walsall, are in the England under-20s squad for games against Turkey (Friday, 5pm) and Romania (Tuesday, 7pm).
Viktor Johansson is bidding to make his first start for Sweden when they take on Azerbaijan in Baku on Thursday (5pm) and Estonia at home in Solna (Sunday, 7.45pm). He has one cap so far, having been a half-time sub against Moldova last October.
Lewis Koumas, on loan from Liverpool, is in the Wales squad for Nations League games against Turkey in Cardiff (Friday, 7.45pm) and Montenegro away (Monday, 7.45pm).
Million Manhoef is in the Netherlands under-21s squad for European qualifiers against North Macedonia (Thursday, 7pm) and Georgia (Monday, 7pm) and tasked with continuing his scoring form from club level.
Moran, on loan from Brighton, is in the Republic of Ireland under-21s for games against Turkey away (Friday, 5.45pm) and Latvia at home (Tuesday, September 10, 5pm).
