Andy Carroll's England debut has been cast into doubt after Newcastle contacted the Football Association expressing their concern about the player's fitness. Fabio Capello's announcement on Tuesday that Carroll would start in Wednesday night's friendly against France at Wembley set alarm bells ringing at St James' Park.
The Magpies are not convinced Carroll has fully recovered from a groin injury he sustained against Fulham on Saturday and sent a message to that effect to the FA.
There has been no official public response from the FA, and there is unlikely to be one before Capello unveils his starting line-up an hour before kick-off.
Capello was aware of Carroll's groin injury on Sunday evening and kept him out of training on Monday, believing the player would eventually be ruled out.
However, after the striker reported an easing of the problem, Carroll was sent for a scan, the results of which were assessed by the England team medical staff.
They were sufficiently satisfied to clear Carroll to train on Tuesday and the player came through a full session without any discomfort. Yet Newcastle are sufficiently worried that Carroll could end up being ruled out of Saturday's Premier League encounter with Bolton to make their point.
Press Association Sport understands the club, whose own medics assessed the injury before the player met up with the rest of the squad, emailed the FA to "express their concern" over the possible consequences.
It is understood the Magpies' stopped short of asking for the Gateshead-born front man to be withdrawn, but rather urged caution with him.
