Norwich City midfielder Todd Cantwell has pulled out of the England Under-21 squad, to rest the hamstring injury which has been troubling him.
The 21-year-old was a doubt for the Canaries' home Premier League clash with Aston Villa on Saturday but managed to play 80 minutes of the shock 5-1 defeat.
He subsequently did join up with the Young Lions, alongside City team-mate Max Aarons, and trained earlier in the week. However, Cantwell has dropped out of contention ahead of Friday's friendly in Slovenia.
It's believed the decision has been made to avoid the hamstring issue becoming more serious and that the youngster, who has two goals and two assists to his name in the top flight so far this season, is hoping he will be fine for the trip to Bournemouth a week on Saturday.
The Dereham-raised talent has started every league game of the season for Norwich so far and earned his first England U21 cap during the previous international break, his first national recognition since under-17 level.
He will miss the game in Slovenia and Tuesday night's Euro 2021 qualifier against Austria in Milton Keynes, but right-back Aarons remains with Aidy Boothroyd's squad.
He joins Canaries colleagues Jamal Lewis (knee) and Kenny McLean (hip) in pulling out of international action this week, for Northern Ireland and Scotland respectively.
MORE: McLean pulls out of Scotland squad ahead of Russia clash
However, it's understood all three players have minor issues and are hopeful they will be training fully ahead of the Bournemouth game, amid a string of injury issues for head coach Daniel Farke.
A City statement this afternoon explained: "Cantwell will miss the upcoming games for the Young Lions with a slight hamstring complaint, whilst McLean has been forced out of the Scotland squad for their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Russia and San Marino with a minor hip injury.
"The pair will now return to Norwich to work closely with the club's medical team ahead of the upcoming Premier League fixture away at AFC Bournemouth."
Ben Godfrey had surgery on a hernia in Munich earlier this week - which kept him out of the England U21 squad - but is also expected to be back in training ahead of the clash with the Cherries, while Farke has also suggested that some of his injured players could return to contention during the international break.
Centre-backs Timm Klose and Christoph Zimmermann are out long term but it's thought that Tim Krul, Ralf Fahrmann, Alex Tettey, Mario Vrancic, Tom Trybull and Onel Hernandez will all be hoping to return to contention in the next few weeks.
Grant Hanley's situation is less clear, with the defender also having to pull out of the Scotland squad after missing City's game on Saturday, as he was due to see a specialist about his ongoing groin problem.
- For a full update on the injury situation, see the video above
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