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Thomas Tuchel has made the astonishing claim that England can win the World Cup without Jude Bellingham.
The England manager has sent shockwaves across the game by refusing to recall fit-again Bellingham for this month’s friendly against Wales and World Cup qualifier in Latvia.
Tuchel said at Wembley today that he doesn’t want to disrupt the team spirit and harmony he believes contributed to last month's thumping 5-0 win in Serbia.
He has made only one injury-related change – Bukayo Saka for Arsenal team-mate Noni Madueke - from that squad and has stressed there is no guarantee that Bellingham and indeed Phil Foden and Jack Grealish will get back in.
It seems unfeasible that Bellingham in particular will not be on the plane to America but when it was put to Tuchel by Mail Sport that it’s impossible to win the World Cup without your most creative players, a remarkable exchange ensued.
‘Do you have proof of that?’ asked Tuchel.
Thomas Tuchel made has claimed England can win the World Cup without Jude Bellingham
Tuchel chose not to include Bellingham in his squad for the upcoming international break
‘Do you have proof?’
Asked again whether he agreed that teams with creative players win matches, he didn’t budge.
‘But do you have proof of that?,’ Tuchel repeated.
‘Doesn’t it count what we did in the last camp? I have proof that last camp was our best camp. I stick with the squad’.
Asked if one good performance in Serbia was enough evidence to leave out Bellingham and others, Tuchel doubled down.
‘At the moment, yes,’ he added.
‘It’s enough evidence. I think a lot of people will understand the decision, because it’s a clear decision.
‘It’s three weeks ago that we had the best camp, the best performance so far under my responsibility. Why would I not stick with the same team?
The England boss, buoyed by the 5-0 win in Serbia, has opted not to make drastic changes
‘It’s a little bit like in club football. Two top players, your captain and your top player, are injured. You go and play a Champions League match.
‘Boom, you have the best performance. The next Saturday, both players are there are and you go: “Guys, I don’t change the team but does it mean I don’t trust you? Does it mean you’re not our key players? No”.’
It was then suggested that Premier League champions Liverpool would always change a winning team to get star forward Mo Salah back in.
‘Okay, but that’s Liverpool,’ he said.
‘It’s not us.’
Bellingham missed the last camp through injury after having shoulder surgery in Spain. But he has been back in action for Real Madrid and wanted to join up with England. Indeed this week he was revealed to be England’s official player of the year for 2024/25.
Asked if he would have picked Bellingham had he had more recent minutes, Tuchel appeared to suggest not.
‘It would have been a different basis but it could have been still the same outcome,’ he said.
When told Liverpool would always change a winning team to include Mo Salah, a feisty Tuchel said: 'Okay, but that's Liverpool. It's not us.'
Tuchel knows he has to tread carefully with his dealings with Bellingham. Just last June he said some of Bellingham’s behaviour had ‘repulsed’ the German’s mother. And though he has subsequently apologised and sought refuge in context and language difficulties, that word still hangs in the air.
The former Chelsea manager can perhaps be taken at his word when he says this decision has been made for reasons of continuity. He said, for example, that Saka would not have got back in either had Madueke not suffered a knee injury recently.
However Tuchel is now in charge of an England squad that has players like Jordan Henderson and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in it but has no room for one of world football’s genuine superstars.
Known to have concerns over Bellingham’s positional responsibility and discipline, Tuchel does think his star name follows the ball too much. He is also aware that the way he carries himself around England camps is not to the taste of all his team-mates.
For now, he has stopped short of guaranteeing Bellingham a way back and believes his own credibility would be damaged by creating special conditions for big players. What will alarm some England fans is that Tuchel seems to be suggesting a winning team cannot be improved. It seems to be an awfully big conclusion to draw from one admittedly impressive win in Serbia.
‘Everyone tells me, and it is my experience so far, that in international football it becomes even more relevant to the team spirit,’ said Tuchel.
‘I believe strongly that it is maybe the most important thing in club football but for sure in international football. So this group set the standards in the last camp and deserved to be in camp.
‘Team spirit is the key factor. We want to develop something special and I truly believe that the fans can feel there is a team out there that loves to play with each other, that loves to run for each other, that is there to give everything.
Tuchel reiterated that a strong team spirit is the most important factor he's looking for
‘That was clearly visible in the match against Serbia so now it is on us to follow up on that and for that we didn’t take any chances.
‘Do I believe that we are a stronger team with Jude?,’ Tuchel asked.
‘Yes.
‘Is he one of the best players in the world in midfield? Yes.
‘But I think we found solutions in the last camp, so this is more about the last camp and what we started to build than about the dependency on individual players
‘100 per cent there are no guarantees.
‘I understand your focus on Jude of course. First of all, he is a very special player and for special players there can always be special rules. I get this.
‘He deserves always to be in camp. He could have been called up and wanted to be called up. We had a phone call. There was no issue from that side.
‘But if we say the competition is on, then the competition is on.
‘We cannot say that like for 80 per cent of the squad the competition is on but for 20 per cent it is not on. It’s on.’
‘For credibility, as a coach, you need to walk the talk.’
The further along the line of Tuchel’s time as England coach we travel, the clearer some decisions have become. For example, he revealed he had called Bellingham, Foden, Grealish, Adam Wharton and Curis Jones to tell them they had not made the squad but admitted there had been no call for Kyle Walker, even though the Burnley full-back played for him as recently as June.
Meanwhile, Tuchel said he had no issue with talk of moving kick-off times later in the day in America next summer to protect players from heat – even if it means the English TV audience would be disadvantaged.
‘I know the fans will not like it but for us it's better if we play later, of course,’ he said.
‘If you do a run at 2pm in Charlotte then you know....
‘We have put the players first, because the players are the game and we have to protect the game.
‘I understand that it's bad for our fans. I understand it’s bad for the children, bad for the young people who go to school, very bad.
‘There will be a lot of drop-outs the next day at school, I guess.
