England players fear they need to move clubs to seal World Cup place
Thomas Tuchel has left a number of his England hopefuls with the impression that they need to move clubs to win a place in his World Cup squad.
England secured back-to-back wins in their World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia in Tuchel’s first games as head coach, with the German using a total of 18 players.
Tuchel watched and spoke to over 50 England players before naming his 26-man squad, with notable exclusions including Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire, Jarrad Branthwaite and Morgan Gibbs-White, who was later called up after Cole Palmer’s withdrawal.
Competition for places in Tuchel’s World Cup squad is going to be fierce and players have been left under no illusions that they must be playing and performing at the highest possible level to impress England’s head coach.
At least two players who did make Tuchel’s squad are understood to think their chances of retaining their places ahead of next summer would be improved by moving clubs at the end of this season. And a number of those left out, who were close to making the cut, believe they must secure moves to improve their hopes of forcing their way into Tuchel’s squad in time to be considered for the World Cup.
Grealish has not started for City in the Premier League yet this year and admitted in a heart-to-heart with Tuchel that his form has been impacted by the start-stop nature of his club season.
Tuchel also warned that Grealish must take responsibility off the pitch and the 29-year-old has spent part of the international break on a family holiday in Dubai, where he has also worked with a personal trainer in a bid to return in the best possible condition.
Branthwaite is expected to consider his Everton future after seeing Newcastle United’s Dan Burn selected ahead of him, while goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who was omitted from both of Tuchel’s 23-man match-day squads, has a big decision to make with Southampton almost certain to be relegated from the Premier League.
Marcus Rashford started both the Albania and Latvia games under Tuchel after being rewarded for some promising performances on loan at Aston Villa. Villa have the option to sign Rashford permanently for £40 million at the end of the season and the forward will know he cannot return to the Manchester United wilderness if he wants to play at the World Cup.
Rashford’s future could impact another Villa player, Jacob Ramsey, who Tuchel name-checked as being close to making his squad for the Albania and Latvia games. Ramsey will need to play regularly to stand a chance of forcing his way into Tuchel’s set-up and could face competition from Rashford at club and international level.
Gibbs-White is hoping to qualify for the Champions League with Nottingham Forest, but could still find himself the target of big clubs, who may offer him a better chance of securing one of the coveted No 10 spots where Tuchel has so much competition.
Tuchel praised the way Gibbs-White handled his initial omission and late call-up, but the Forest star was left out of the match-day squad for the Albania game and did not step off the substitutes’ bench against Latvia.
Maguire has been out with an ankle injury, but would have been fit to play for England had Tuchel selected him. Tuchel confirmed the pair had spoken, but considered Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi ahead of the United defender.
“I spoke to all of them who were not on the list to give my direct feedback on my decision,” said Tuchel. “It was a close decision. We chose Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa at the moment. I think they are a little bit in a better rhythm and deserve to be with us. Two right footers in central defence and the rest were left footers in the centre of defence.”
Asked if Maguire had been fit in time for England’s games, Tuchel said: “Yes, but the second reason [he was not selected] was that he was not fit when we did the nomination. It was presumed that he could play, but we didn’t want to nominate a player who we had to take a risk [on] and constantly need to assess whether he could do a full training session or half training session.
“Harry knows that. It’s not so easy for him at the club at the moment. He plays in a back three on top of it, but he’s a top professional and he’s very important for England. He took it unbelievably well. He wrote me messages to wish us good luck and you see what a person he is. He is a top guy and he will always be in contention.”
Tuchel used the Football Association’s head of psychology Richard Hampson for his first camp, as he seeks to enhance interaction between players and build effective leadership.
Hampson was appointed by the FA last September to work across all of the England teams and Tuchel used him alongside his backroom staff for his first games against Albania and Latvia.
It is believed that Hampson’s primary role was to study the behaviour of Tuchel’s players to help the German identify his leading characters and areas to work on.
Tuchel has indicated to the squad that he will give them each an individual debrief, not just on their performances but also on their behaviour and what they could improve.
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