Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka among eight players to leave Thomas Tuchel's England squad ahead of Japan friendly

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England will be without several key men including Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, John Stones and Adam Wharton for their final friendly on home soil before the 2026 World Cup. Noni Madueke, Aaron Ramsdale, Fikayo Tomori and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have also returned to their clubs leaving Thomas Tuchel with a squad of 27 players to pick from when The Three Lions take on Japan.

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Eight England players have left Thomas Tuchel’s camp after the friendly against Uruguay, leaving The Three Lions with a squad of 27 to face Japan on Tuesday.

Arsenal trio Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Noni Madueke have all been released for medical assessment, the FA announced, while John Stones and Adam Wharton are heading back to Manchester City and Crystal Palace respectively after picking up knocks.

Aaron Ramsdale (Newcastle United), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United) complete the list of departures, while England have not called up anyone to replace them.

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Of the group, only Tomori and Madueke started in the 1-1 draw with Uruguay while Wharton and Calvert-Lewin featured from the bench.

It leaves Tuchel with four goalkeepers, nine defenders, six midfielders and eight forwards to breathe some life into The Three Lions against Japan, England’s final game before they depart for North America ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

England will play two more friendlies against Costa Rica and New Zealand as part of their pre-tournament preparation camp in Florida, before taking on Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Group L.

Ben White’s 81st minute tap-in against Uruguay from a deflected Cole Palmer corner appeared to have swung the game in England’s favour, but the Arsenal defender caught Federico Vinas in stoppage time, giving Marcelo Bielsa's side a penalty via VAR, which Federico Valverde confidently fired home to ensure the contest ended honours even.

Earlier, Calvert-Lewin had been close to opening the scoring from another Palmer set-piece but headed wide from close range, and England struggled to otherwise challenge Fernando Muslera’s net, finishing the game with five shots on target and an expected goals (xG) tally of just 1.9 according to Opta.

Uruguay finished third in the most recent Copa America, held in 2024, but were knocked out in the group stages of the 2022 World Cup - poor in comparison to England’s next opponents who emerged top of a ‘group of death’ involving Spain, Germany and Costa Rica, then were only beaten on penalties in the last 16 by semi-finalists Croatia.

Japan secured victory last time out in their friendly against Scotland thanks to a late Junya Ito goal but will be similarly keen to sharpen their attack given the manner of their victory.

The Samurai Blue barraged Angus Gunn’s goal with 18 shots, seven of them on target, but could not break the deadlock until the 84th and finished with 2.1 xG.

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