England: Tuchel admits Toney inclusion was ‘surprise’ to him as he reacts to Maguire ‘shock’ | OneFootball

England boss Thomas Tuchel insists that he “surprised” himself by including Ivan Toney in the Three Lions squad for the World Cup.

The England squad was officially unveiled on Friday morning after an evening of speculation on Thursday about who will make the squad.

One of the first revelations was about Man Utd centre-back Harry Maguire’s omission from the squad with the former Sheffield United and Hull City star claiming he was in “shock” at the decision.

Reacting to Maguire’s decision to go public with a reaction, Tuchel told reporters on Friday: “I was a bit surprised, but I respect his personality a lot, I respect his quality a lot. He has had an outstanding season, I can see the disappointment, I can see the reason behind the disappointment.

“Still I was a bit surprised because we had a private conversation and he had the chance to express his feelings which he did and this is fair enough because I can see all the reasons why he could be in the squad. But, the decision is that we stood firmly with our central defenders that carried us through September, October and November.

“Some of them are part of the leadership group that took ownership and set the standards high. It was a decision for these 26 players, even if it feels against individuals.”

Al-Ahli striker Toney was a shock inclusion as attacking midfielders Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Gibbs-White were among the players to miss out.

Toney inclusion was ‘also a bit of a surprise to us’ – Tuchel

Explaining the decision to select Toney over other attackers, Tuchel added: “Also a bit of a surprise to us [his inclusion], when it came down to all different kinds of scenarios he was back in the picture. I had fantastic feedback from his club coach, who was my player and I have a close connection with him, always fantastic feedback about his role there, about his ability, his fitness.

“We could see that he still collects the numbers, I think he has very special skills that could help us, the situations, scenarios when we are chasing a result. I think he can be a very valuable addition to Harry Kane, he can be present in the box when we are pushing for a goal.

“He can take attention off other strikers, he has a natural presence within the box, he is a natural finisher, he can help us with set pieces, he is very strong in there. Very good in using his body and not to forget, he is a world class penalty taker. He ticks some boxes that we wanted to be ticked.”

On fearing leaving world-class talents at home, the England boss continued: “No, I don’t fear because I am very confident in the group that we chose of which we arrive with. Very difficult decisions, painful conversations. Difficult for the players, difficult to explain to the players. What we’re trying to achieve as a team and we try to nominate a balanced squad. If everyone is selected, it was a given that from these 55 players, we have to leave some extraordinary talents, some extraordinary personalities at home.

“Either way, if we picked all those names, some other big five names would have been out and we would be talking about these names. It comes with the job. I like these kinds of decisions, even if it sometimes took weeks and sometimes, months to clarify the decisions. I think they bring clarity. At the end, they bring a certain edge that is necessary.

“I try to explain for the players the reason they could be in camp. Did they do anything wrong? No. Could they be in camp? Yes. 100% sure. But for some of them, it is just the amount of players in a certain position. We didn’t want to play the players out of position so much and we wanted to give them a clear role and it comes with difficult and maybe hard choices in the build up to the tournament.”