Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik will miss Euro 2020 after withdrawing from the squad due to a knee injury, the Polish Football Association confirmed late on Monday.
The Olympique Marseille forward suffered a small meniscus tear in his left knee in the last Ligue 1 match of the season against FC Metz at the end of May. Since then he has not returned to normal training.
“The injury, with which the 27-year-old striker arrived at the Polish national team training camp in Opalenica, has eliminated the player from the tournament,” the Polish FA said in a statement.
With Poland set to play their Group E opener against Slovakia on June 14, Milik had been undergoing treatment over the last two weeks aimed at getting him back to full training.
However, he left Poland’s training camp late on Monday to return to his club, which will take further steps to treat the injury.
The FA added it had decided not to call up a replacement for Milik, who has won 70 caps.
“The symptoms he experienced during training and the additional tests carried out afterwards confirmed that the injury still prevents him from full training and playing matches,” the statement said.
“As the player himself admitted, despite the rehabilitation undertaken, he did not feel 100% ready to compete with full commitment in UEFA Euro 2020.”
Milik’s absence restricts coach Paulo Sousa’s attacking options further having previously lost Hertha Berlin forward Krzysztof Piatek due to a broken ankle, and will place more of the scoring burden on Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski.
