England manager Gareth Southgate has claimed that Ruben Loftus-Cheek has to be given time "to build his resilience" after being taken off in the first half of the goalless draw with Brazil.
The Chelsea midfielder, who is on loan at London rivals Crystal Palace for the duration of 2017-18, lasted just 35 minutes at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday evening before being replaced by Jesse Lingard.
Southgate puts the minor back injury down to Loftus-Cheek's increased workload so far this season, having featured nine times for club and country prior to the prestige friendly with Brazil, compared to 11 outings in the whole of last term.
"I think we're going to have to give him time to build his resilience, he's had to go through that as a young player - through the growth spurts that he had," he told reporters. "He's already played more minutes this year than he played in the whole of last season so inevitably there's going to be a little bit of a response to that as the season goes on.
"He's way stronger now than he was a year, two years ago. At that time it was very difficult for him to finish 90 minutes. On Friday he did that comfortably and looked strong at the end. Today's a disappointment for him to have to come off because I think he'd already shown some really good touches within the game.
"The 10 days overall have been a massive stride forward for him. You know for him and [Joe] Gomez, in particular, at their age to come into these games and perform as they did on such limited league experience is absolutely outstanding."
Loftus-Cheek will now be assessed by Palace's medical team ahead of Saturday's home Premier League match against Everton.
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