00:00The second international break of the season is upon us, and for England, there is one notable admission from their squad to face Wales in a friendly and Latvia in a World Cup qualifier, and that is, of course, Jude Bellingham.
00:13The Real Madrid star is still fighting his way back to full fitness at the Spanish Giants, but he has not been selected for this upcoming England camp. There are other absentees who would also normally be in the squad, including Cole Palmer and Nani Mandoeke, out because of injury, but Bellingham's admission is interesting, and can England win and do well without him being part of their set-up? Thomas Tuchel gave his thoughts.
00:40Are there players out who deserve to be with us? Yes, for sure. Is there a way back into the team through performance? 100% for sure.
00:55But at the moment, we think this is the best and most straightforward decision. Like I said in last camp, the competition is on to be in the squad. The competition is on to make it into the squad and then make it into the pitch, and that still stands.
01:15Well, first of all, I understand your focus on Jude, of course. First of all, he's a very special player, and for special players, there can always be special rules. I get this.
01:27But for this camp, we decided that we stick with our straightforward decision to invite the same team. That applies also then for Jude. He deserves always to be in camp.
01:41I think there's an extra layer or like there's on top of it the situation that he has not gathered fully rhythm yet at Real Madrid. He is back in the team. He hasn't finished one full match until now. He has only started one match.
02:00So he is at the moment in the period where he gets his rhythm, where he gets back to full strength. There is this extra layer into decision, but the decision stayed for this camp.
02:15We had a phone call. There was no issue from that side. He just lacks rhythm. He hasn't finished one complete match, like I said. And on top of it, we stayed to our decision to go with the same squad.
02:28One has nothing to do with the other.
02:30I suppose that's what I'm going to ask you, because you can see how people will start thinking, is there a problem between Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham here?
02:35No, there's also no problem between me and Phil Foden. There's no problem between me and Jack Rielish, very special players.
02:42Phil is back to influencing games, deciding games for Manchester City.
02:47Jack is very close to be the best version of himself, very special player, very special character.
02:54There is no problem at all, and there is no personal problem in a nomination.
02:58Listen, this is not like to... It is a decision for this camp. It was, like I said, it was the best camp in terms of team spirit, in terms of teamwork.
03:09This was the best camp so far. So we decided to invite the same group of players to build on, to make more stable what we built on.
03:19Jack is in a very good moment. Phil is in a very good moment. Adam Wharton deserves to be with us.
03:30Curtis Jones gets his minutes at Liverpool. Trevor Cialoba plays.
03:34So there are some players who deserve to be with us. Cole Palmer is injured. A very special player, a very special character and player who decides matches and can be a special player for us.
03:47This will always be like this. I think in any single nomination, we will have these cases that can be endlessly discussed and can be decided in any way.
03:56But for this camp, we wanted to make it a straightforward decision and stay with the same group because the group deserved to be in camp on the basis of what they did last camp.
04:11Thomas Tuchel was keen to point out that there are no personal issues between himself and Jude Bellingham.
04:18But, given just how instrumental Bellingham was in helping England reach the final of the European Championships last summer,
04:25is it possible that England could go forward without him in their squad at the World Cup in Canada, America and Mexico next summer?
04:33It seems unlikely at this stage and, of course, Bellingham isn't at full fitness with Real Madrid at present.
04:40But, just are there issues between himself and Tuchel?
Be the first to comment