In the same boat: German players take to the water in Sardinia

And England? Well, having cancelled the trip to Spain that was due to start on Monday,  Hodgson has now asked his squad —  21 of whom he has never worked with before —  to meet in  Manchester on Wednesday.

But the Chelsea players and Rooney are not due to report for a further six days, on Tuesday week.

Having only just been ‘parachuted’ into the job, Hodgson obviously has an awful lot of catching up to do and he might feel his time is better served elsewhere.

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