Ebere Eze's heartbreaking achilles injury was made worse by the Crystal Palace star finding out immediately after that he was set for his first ever call-up to the England senior team.

Eze joined Palace last summer and lit up the Premier League in his first season, quickly impressing fans to become the Eagles' star player.

Just days before the end of the season, though, he suffered a serious achilles injury in an innocuous moment in training, with no other players around him.

As if to add insult to injury, The Guardian have now revealed that upon his return to the dressing room after that fateful training session, Eze read a text from the FA notifying him that he was going to be included in Gareth Southgate's 33-man provisional squad for the Euros.

It is highly unlikely that Eze would have made next week's final 26, but the news will come as a devastating blow to the 22-year-old, who has been a star for the Under 21s in recent years.

Instead, it is now likely that Eze will not return to competitive action until at least 2022, with February the early predictions from medical staff.

The text does give an indication that Eze is in England's plans going forward, though, and given he is also eligible to play for Nigeria it seems the Three Lions are keen to tie him down. 

Meanwhile, Southgate will next week cut seven players from his 33-man provisional squad to finalise the 26 in his Euro 2020 group.

The likes of Bukayo Saka, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sam Johnstone, Conor Coady, Ben Gofdrey, Ben White and James Ward-Prowse are among those sweating on their place in the final line-up.