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 World Cup qualifying wins 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 overseas 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 to 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 number 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 matchday squad for the Albania game and did not step off the substitutes’ bench against Latvia.
