Despite his hip injury, Anthony Gordon, a winger for Newcastle United, said that leaving England’s team for the Nations League matches against Greece and Ireland “wasn’t a possibility.”

On Thursday, England will play Greece in Athens. Three days later, they will play Ireland at home at Wembley. However, owing to injury, nine players have left interim manager Lee Carsley’s team, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, and Cole Palmer.

Harry Kane, the captain of England, criticized the players who have left the team, stating that representing the nation comes before the club.

Gordon ruled out the possibility of missing international action after being replaced due to a hip injury during Newcastle’s 3-1 Premier League victory against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. “No, it was not feasible. The staff believed they could assist me with the injury, so I came here to be evaluated and see how things were going. To be fair, they have done that. I started training right away, so they’ve done a great job,” he told local reporters on Wednesday.

“Now, it’s gone to a certain degree. I suffered an injury a few weeks back, and it bothered me for a while, but I couldn’t possibly avoid coming here,” he said.

After losing at home to group leaders Greece, who have won all four of their games so far, England, who are vying for promotion to League A, now sits second in Group B2 with nine points.