Lewis Dunk and Jude Bellingham out of England squad to face Malta and North Macedonia

<p>Jude Bellingham and Lewis Dunk have been ruled out of England's Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.</p>

<p>Real Madrid-bound Bellingham is still suffering with the hamstring injury that sidelined him for Borussia Dortmund's heart-breaking season finale, when they let slip the Bundesliga title by drawing 2-2 at home to Mainz.</p>

<p>The 19-year-old midfielder will report to St George's Park to receive further treatment, but will play no part in either match, a team statement confirmed.</p>

<p>Brighton defender Dunk has withdrawn from the squad through injury and will not travel to the national football centre - the only player from Gareth Southgate's original 25-man squad who is not now due to join up.</p>

<p>England players began to gather at St George's Park on Sunday, preparing for&nbsp;Friday's trip to face Malta in Ta' Qali and Monday's fixture against North Macedonia at Old Trafford.</p>

<p>West Ham's Declan Rice, who lifted the Europa Conference League trophy in midweek, will join in the coming days, as will the five players from Manchester City's Champions League-winning squad.</p>

<p>Jack Grealish, John Stones, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips are all expected to be part of City's bus parade in Manchester on Monday before reporting for duty.</p>

<p>In a video posted on England's social media accounts on Sunday, Southgate said: "We've a little less training than we would have liked but today was an important session in terms of players getting back into their football movements.</p>

<p>"They all keep themselves in good shape but you're not training with the team in that period and you have to adapt your body back to the rhythm…</p>

<p>"We'll get the players through today so they're ready to go tomorrow and then we start the more tactical preparation for the game with Malta.</p>

<p>"I think what we've shown in the last few months is that we're a team who now can take on some of the best teams in the world.</p>

<p>"We showed that in the World Cup and we definitely showed that by winning in Naples (the 2-1 win over Italy in March), which was a really important game for us not only in terms of qualification but in terms of our confidence and setting some markers for what we are as a team.</p>

<p>"If you're a really big team you nail those big games and then you don't slip up with the teams you are expected to beat and that's the challenge for us now.</p>

<p>"We're at the end of the season, we've had a lot of different distractions. There's any number of reasons or excuses if you search for them but we can't have a team looking for excuses.</p>

<p>"We want to consistently perform at a high level and we have to start that from the minute the players arrive."</p>

<p>The article <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/soccer/news/lewis-dunk-jude-bellingham-out-of-england-squad-face-malta-north-macedonia">Lewis Dunk and Jude Bellingham out of England squad to face Malta and North Macedonia </a> appeared first on Planetsport.com.</p>