Thomas Tuchel has revealed the reasons for his controversial decisions after he named his first squad as England manager.
A new era for the Three Lions gets underway in earnest next week with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon against Latvia and Albania at Wembley.
Former Chelsea boss Tuchel has certainly raised eyebrows with several selections, having opted to recall Marcus Rashford after a year in the international doldrums.
Tuchel also found room for experienced duo Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker, but there was no place for impressive Nottingham Forest pair Morgan Gibbs-White and Eliott Anderson.
Injuries to the likes of Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw did, however, play a factor in the German’s decision to parachute Myles Lewis-Skelly straight into the senior squad, but there was no place for his Arsenal teammate and fellow teenager Ethan Nwaneri.
Henderson’s inclusion represented a particularly surprising decision given his international career appeared to be over having been left out of last summer’s Euro 2024 squad.
‘Jordan is a serial winner,’ said Tuchel. ‘He is captain of Ajax. He is available and has played a lot of matches. What he brings to every team is leadership, character, personality, energy.
Thomas Tuchel's first England squad
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Southampton), James Trafford (Burnley)
Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (AC Milan, loan from Manchester City)
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Aston Villa, loan from Manchester United), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur)
‘He makes sure that everyone lives by standards and with this characterisitic he embodies everything that we try to build. We try to build a team for our fans and a team that they are proud of and can identity with. Jordan embodies everything that we want from this team.’
Rashford’s selection, however, was seen as just reward for the way in which he has turned his career around while on loan from Aston Villa, following his spectacular falling out his Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim.
‘With Marcus, he is a familiar face but a different situation,’ added Tuchel. ‘I felt that he had a huge impact at Aston Villa, he made a huge impact from the bench mostly. The impact was impressive.
‘The physical impact was impressive and most importantly, his workrate, his defensive ability and tracking back was impressive.
Does Marcus Rashford deserve England recall?
On the face of it, Rashford hasn’t had to do much to win the faith of the new England manager given he is yet to open his goalscoring account for his temporary employers.
In fairness, Rashford has registered three assists, but of more significance is the way in which he appears to have rediscovered his appetite for the game.
Slumped shoulders, a perceived lack of application and general disillusionment characterised the final stages of a Manchester United career that appears to be over, regardless of how well he performs on loan at Aston Villa.
It is, perhaps, unsurprising that under a coach renowned for his detailed tactical instructions that Rashford has thrived, quickly forming an impressive relationship with fellow loanee Marco Asensio.
Rashford, at times, looked confused and befuddled by a tactical free-for-all United appeared to during Erik ten Hag’s tenure, while he was largely ill-suited to Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system.
Like Emery, Thomas Tuchel is renowned for supplying his forwards with forensic details and it is easy to envisage the pair working well together.
With Bukayo Saka injured and Ethan Nwaneri likely to be deemed not ready for senior international football, Rashford is perhaps a tad fortunate to be back in the fold but few would begrudge him his place after a turbulent 12 months.
James Goldman | Metro Sports Editor.
‘I had the strong feeling that we should nominate him, bring him in and to push him to stay on that level to not fall back on old routines. This camp is to push him to stay on this level.’
Lewis-Skelly, meanwhile, has enjoyed a spectacular rise for prominence in recent months, impressing as a makeshift left-back having spent the majority of his career as a midfielder.
The 18-year-old has come under-fire in recent weeks after he was criticised for goading Erling Haaland during Arsenal’s recent win over Manchester City which was sandwiched by two controversial red card incidents against Wolves and West Ham.
Tuchel admitted that, given the scrutiny the Hale End Academy graduate has been under, that serious consideration was given to allowing him to ‘breathe’ at Under-21 level but concluded that his talent was too obvious to ignore.
He said: ‘With injuries lately and the latest injury form Lewis Hall we ran out a little bit of left footers who can play left back.
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‘We were always impressed with Myles since he started he came so quick, a regular player for Arsenal, second best team in the country at the moment, quarter finalist in Champions League so huge concurrence in his club and Mikel Arteta picks him regularly so this is very impressive from the very start.
‘I can understand that it feels a little bit like we fast forward a career that is already on fast pace I can assure a parental vibe, a little bit of a protective vibe to even feel like maybe we shouldn’t nominate him to protect him a bit, to not skip under 21s, let him go there, breathe a little bit out of the spotlight
‘Is this maybe even our response to not take him? But in the end with injuries and the quality and maturity he showed within the matches we decided to take him.
‘We come back to the likes of Jordan Henderson. If we have young exciting talents like Myles in our squad it is even more important that he has the guidance and role models, players like Jordan Henderson at his side who take care of him.’
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