You won’t catch Phil Jones withdrawing from an England squad through injury.
Even if it is only a meaningless friendlies; even if he *is actually injured*.
Despite having problems with his left thigh, Jones started for the Three Lions side that held world champions Germany during the international break. He also did his best to play on for a further 15 minutes after it was noticed that the defender, who was playing with a bandage around his left leg, was limping heavily.
Unsurprisingly, the news hasn’t gone down too well with club manager Jose Mourinho, who’s made it perfectly clear what he thinks about the situation.
“I don’t think it is possible for a player with a problem to play in a friendly,” Mourinho told the Mirror.
“Of course, Phil Jones had a problem. He was having a problem for three weeks, he’s having problems that are stopping him to play for his club and then he plays for his club in extreme conditions because it’s a big match against Chelsea.
“And then he goes to the national team and he comes home with an ongoing injury that everyone knows is an ongoing injury.”
Mourinho then admitted he had been “naive” when compared to the managers of other Premier League clubs.
“You have always some clubs where their players, they have always have something.
“It could be a fingernail, he has a little flu, he has a problem with the little toe, and they withdraw, and they stay with their clubs and they have their holidays and they have their rest.
“Then, there are always the clubs where the mangers are naive, too pure and they say you have to go and they go and sometimes they pay the price and you pay the price.
“I want to see this next weekend if the players that were not going to the national team, I want to see if they are going to play. Drinkwater? Delph? The only one that is not playing is Phil Jones.”
