Frank Lampard explains decision to drop Carney Chukwuemeka from England U20 squad

standard sports exclusively revealed that the 19-year-old has been dropped from the squad following Chelsea injuries to Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante this week.

Lampard admitted Chukwuemeka was disappointed with the decision but hopes he can join the Young Lions after helping his club in their last three games of the season.

Lampard told reporters: “He’s a Chelsea player and we have injuries in that area. The situation with Carney is that he came into a club, a big step for him, and this season hasn’t managed to get so many minutes (due to the size of the squad) and move to a new club.

“I hope there are opportunities in those three games for him. He’s our player, and we’ve lost players, we need him to stay.

“It is possible that he will join at the end of the season if the team takes the next steps. He may be the best of both worlds ideally, but he is our player and we had to take this decision.

“I felt a bit for Carney, he wanted to leave but at the same time what happened meant he had to stay.”

Chukwuemeka will be in contention to face Manchester City on Sunday with eight senior players injured, including Benoit Badiashile, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella, Reece James and Mason Mount.