FA confirms Chelsea forward Sterling will rejoin England squad on Friday after robbery

Raheem Sterling is returning to Qatar and rejoining the England squad in time for the World Cup quarter-final against France.

The 28-year-old did not feature in Sunday’s last-16 win against Senegal due to concerns over his family’s wellbeing following an incident at his home in Surrey.

Sterling returned to the UK to deal with the matter but gave the green light to the Football Association to look at the logistics of bringing him back before Saturday’s crunch clash with France.

The governing body has now confirmed the Chelsea forward is heading back to link up with Gareth Southgate’s squad in Qatar.

An FA statement on Thursday read: “Raheem Sterling will return to England’s World Cup base in Qatar.

“The Chelsea forward temporarily left to attend to a family matter but is now expected to rejoin the squad in Al Wakrah on Friday (9 December) ahead of the quarter-final with France.”

Kyle Walker insists England will not be rolling out the red carpet for France’s great entertainers on Saturday.

Most of the talk since the tie was confirmed has surrounded Kylian Mbappe and how England can stop a man who leads the golden boot race with his five goals in Qatar.

The World Cup holders also boast the likes of Olivier Giroud – who has overtaken Thierry Henry to become Les Bleus’ all-time leading goalscorer – and Antoine Griezmann.

But Walker is not prepared for England to become theatre-goers as he backed Gareth Southgate’s men to show what they can do.

“We take our hats off to them, they are world champions, they have the respect they deserve,” Walker said of France.

“They won the last World Cup. But I can assure you that each and every one of us will not be rolling out red carpet for them to go and perform, thinking it’s a theatre for them to showcase their great talent.

“We have also got great talent that we need to be speaking about as well. The goals we have scored, the clean sheets we have kept. We just move forward with that.

“To play in a quarter-final of a World Cup is always going to be special. It’s always going to be a bit more special when it’s against France, the reigning world champions. It’s going to be a very tough game which we know and one we are waiting on with excitement.”

Source link