England have announced that forward Raheem Sterling will return to Qatar on Friday ahead of their World Cup 2022 quarter-final with France.
The Chelsea man was a last-minute withdrawal from the squad to face Senegal in Sunday's last-16 clash due to a family matter, as England won 3-0 to advance to the last eight.
It subsequently emerged that Sterling's Surrey home had been broken into, and he immediately flew back to the UK amid concerns about the welfare of his children.
At the time, Gareth Southgate did not put any pressure on Sterling to return to the England camp, telling ITV: "We will have to wait and see. At the moment, clearly the priority is for him to be with his family and we're going to support that.
"We're going to allow him to have as much time as he needs. He's going home, yeah. I really don't know because at the moment it's a situation that he needs time with his family to deal with and I don't want to put him under any pressure. Sometimes football isn't the most important thing and family should come first."
© Reuters
On Thursday morning, England confirmed that the 27-year-old would soon fly back out to Qatar to link up with his teammates as they prepare to meet world champions France at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday.
A statement from the Three Lions revealed that Sterling will be back with the squad on Friday, meaning that he should be in contention to face Les Bleus at the weekend.
"Raheem Sterling will return to England's @FIFAWorldCup base in Qatar. The #ThreeLions forward temporarily left to attend to a family matter but is now expected to rejoin the squad in Al Wakrah tomorrow ahead of the quarter-final with France," a tweet read.
Sterling, who has five goals and two assists in 19 games during his debut season at Chelsea, started England's first two games of the World Cup and came up with a goal and assist in their opening 6-2 win over Iran.
The former Manchester City man now has 20 goals and 27 assists from 81 senior international caps, but he was dropped to the bench for England's final Group B win over Wales, with Phil Foden starting on the left in his place and scoring his side's second goal on the night.
Raheem Sterling will return to England's @FIFAWorldCup base in Qatar.
— England (@England) December 8, 2022
The #ThreeLions forward temporarily left to attend to a family matter but is now expected to rejoin the squad in Al Wakrah tomorrow ahead of the quarter-final with France. pic.twitter.com/3bxzAVP3cQ
Foden was again given the nod out wide for England's last-16 meeting with Senegal following Sterling's withdrawal, and he assisted goals for Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka in another strong performance.
It remains to be seen if Sterling will come back into the starting lineup in place of Foden, but his return is a major boost for Southgate, who has a couple of fitness concerns to contend with ahead of Saturday's game.
Ever-present midfielder Declan Rice missed Wednesday's training session due to illness, while forward Callum Wilson is battling a minor strain, and Ben White is still absent for personal reasons.
Rice's illness is not expected to jeopardize his chances of playing in the quarter-final, while Wilson was never expected to start over Kane, who needs one more goal to equal Wayne Rooney's record of 53 for the Three Lions.
Meanwhile, France attacker Kylian Mbappe - the leading goalscorer of the 2022 World Cup with five strikes - was absent from training on Tuesday due to ankle discomfort, but the 23-year-old was back on the practice pitches on Wednesday and is expected to start the quarter-final.
Ben Knapton
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