Tottenham’s King leaves England camp

March 24, 2009

Spurs defender Ledley King has left England’s training camp and will not take part in the matches against Slovakia or Ukraine and his departure could infact signal the end of his international career all together.

King was called up even though he has a chronic knee injury which restricts the amount of games he can play and the intensity he is able to train at but Capello wanted the English medics to assess the defender after he was impressed by the defenders performances in the league.

The Spurs club captain arrived with Fabio Capello’s party at Arsenal’s London Colney training facility on Tuesday but did not train and returned to the England hotel and then to his club.

An FA statement said: “Both parties agreed the best interests of the player are served by continuing his individual training programme at the club.

“Ledley King has returned to Spurs Lodge to continue his rehabilitation over the course of the international break, following discussions and assessments overnight by the medical staff of both the club and the England national team.”

The FA defended the decision to bring King into the squad: “The England management will take no risks,” a spokesman said.

“They fully understand Ledley’s injury situation but they want to have a close look at him.”

Capello has already pledged to use his maximum six substitutes against Slovakia as he attempts to keep his players as fresh as possible for the match against Ukraine.

“The Ukraine game is very important to us,” said the Italian. “Their league only started at the beginning of March so their players will be very fresh.

“Ours are a little bit tired but I think the fans will help us this time. We will have 12 players on the pitch.”

Peter Crouch was forced to miss training on Tuesday, with a calf injury, along with Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips who sat out with a sore back, although it is not thought to be serious.

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