After discussions with Gareth Southgate on Tuesday, it was decided the Chelsea full-back has not recovered sufficiently from the knee injury he picked up against AC Milan last month.
James flew to Dubai to undergo an intensive rehabilitation programme in an attempt to be fit for Qatar, and was even doing some tentative running at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground in recent days
However, with injury concerns to another key England right-back Kyle Walker and to midfielder Kalvin Phillips, Southgate has taken the tough decision to tell James that he cannot risk including him in his 26-man squad that will be announced on Thursday.
