England have announced Joe Gomez has withdrawn from the squad for their forthcoming internationals after sustaining a knee injury in training.

The defender will undergo further diagnosis on the issue with Liverpool’s medical team.

Gomez will therefore miss the Three Lions’ fixtures with Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Iceland during the current international break.

England manager Gareth Southgate told a press conference on Wednesday evening: “I can’t tell you how serious it is because he is yet to have scans. What was upsetting was to see he was in a fair bit of pain and there was nobody around him when the injury happened, so I didn’t like that element of it.

“We’ve just got to wait and see what the scans show. We’re all hopeful for him that it’s not what it might be but it is not a good situation and I don’t see him being involved in the games with us, that’s for sure.”

Southgate added: “We can’t speculate on the exact nature of the injury, it is not possible until we’ve seen scans. My immediate thoughts are with him because he has had some difficulties with injuries in the past, so we’re hoping as much as we possibly can that it’s not going to be a long-term one, but we have to see.”