England superstar leaves Euro 2024 camp as he returns to UK for important family matter - Reports

Phil Foden has reportedly left the England camp at EURO 2024 and rushed back to the United Kingdom to tend to a family matter. The Manchester City star has reportedly travelled back to be with his girlfriend on the birth of their third child.

As per a report in the Guardian (via Sky Sports), Foden will be temporarily unavailable for England, with their Round of 16 game scheduled for Saturday, June 29. He is said to have left their camp at the Weimarer Land Spa and Golf resort in Blankenhain, a countryside town in the east of Germany, and is on his way back home.

Foden started all three of England's group stage matches, but has not managed to get on the scoresheet. He was played on the left wing by Gareth Southgate to accommodate Bukayo Saka on the right and Jude Bellingham in the middle.

Sky Sports News senior reporter Rob Dorsett has hinted that the Englishman is heading back because his partner is expecting their third child. He said:

"It is well known that Foden is having a third baby with his girlfriend Rebecca Cooke. They confirmed that in April with a baby shower in Stockport and they put some photos on his Instagram account announcing the happy news. So, my understanding is that Foden wants to go back and be with his girlfriend for a very short period of time before he comes back out to Germany to continue with England and this tournament."

England manager was urged to drop Phil Foden by Didi Hamann

Football pundit Didi Hamann had urged England manager Gareth Southgate to drop Phil Foden. He claimed that the Manchester City star could not play alongside Jude Bellingham and said on RTE:

"If you stick to these big players and they clearly don't perform, I think there's a case to drop them. I think there's a case to drop Foden, Bellingham, and Kane. I think the biggest problem is; they've got Foden and Bellingham in the same team. It clearly doesn't work, but he hasn't got the bottle to drop either of them."

He added:

"I think he's got to take one of them out, or move Bellingham a bit further back, but he doesn't want to do this because for some reason he thinks Bellingham has to play in a position behind Kane. If he drops one of the two, that gives him a chance to bring Palmer in, bring Gordon in, bring Eze in, whoever. You've got so many players. Jarrod Bowen came on last week and set up the chance for Kane and he doesn't do it."

OptaJoe released a surprising stat earlier on Wednesday, claiming that Foden had successfully passed the ball more to Jordan Pickford - three times - than Harry Kane (once) so far in EURO 2024.