England news: Jack Cork and Jake Livermore ease Gareth Southgate's injury crisis

Manchester City pair Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph left the camp at St George’s Park yesterday, the former with a back complaint and the latter after injuring his calf against Arsenal.

Separately, the decision was made that Jordan Henderson, still back on Merseyside receiving treatment on the thigh injury which ruled him out of Saturday’s 4-1 win over West Ham, would not be ready in time to play any meaningful part in the international break.

From the original 25 named for the double-header against Germany and Brazil, Dele Alli had been ruled out as early as Sunday morning after suffering from sore tendons following his exploits against Real Madrid.

Tottenham team-mates Harry Kane and Harry Winks also failed to travel after spending Monday undergoing medical assessments.

The only bit of good news was that Gary Cahill, who also spent Monday in the company of the medics at Chelsea following the 1-0 win over Manchester United, was finally cleared to participate and travelled up yesterday to join the rest of the squad.

A statement released by the FA said: “Manchester City duo Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph have returned to their club after being ruled out of England’s forthcoming fixtures.

“Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson will also miss out on the back-to-back games against Germany and Brazil at Wembley Stadium through injury.”

The shortage has meant Southgate has had to seek out reinforcements, recalling West Brom’s Jake Livermore to the squad and a first-time call-up for Burnley’s Jack Cork.

Cork has impressed for Burnley since his £8million move from Swansea and shared his delight with the club’s website.

He said: “I’m really, really happy. I haven't really got the words for it. I'm looking forward to going to meet up. 

“We've had a good start to the season and you're probably not going to get many better opportunities to be in the England squad, because we are doing so well.

“Four or five of the lads in the squad probably could have got in at the same time as me, so I feel lucky that I've been given the chance and, hopefully, if we can keep this form up then maybe one or two others can get in as well.”

Thankfully, Michael Keane, not initially considered for these games after sustaining a gash to the thigh last month, was also subsequently added to the list when he played for Everton against Swansea on Sunday and Jake Livermore was offered a reprieve after initially being left out having featured in Southgate’s squad last month.

However, the spate of absences once again have led to questions being raised about the worth of friendly internationals – although sources say the final general sale tickets are likely to be snapped up for both games as early as Thursday.