Thomas Tuchel denies rift with Jude Bellingham as he explains Foden and Grealish omissions from England squad | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel insisted he has no personal problem with Jude Bellingham and said he wanted to retain the same squad who thrashed Serbia 5-0 in England’s last match as he explained why several big names were missing from the group.

England revealed the latest squad for October’s internationals on Friday morning, with the selection largely unchanged from the wins over Andorra and Serbia in last month’s World Cup qualifying. Bukayo Saka has returned to replace his injured Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke in the most notable change.

Jude Bellingham has returned to action with Real Madrid after injury and was named England’s player of the 2024/25 season this week, while Phil Foden and Jack Grealish have both found form in the Premier League, but none of the trio have been selected.

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Jack Grealish is in form for Everton but misses out on the England squad (Getty Images)

Tuchel’s side play Wales in a friendly at Wembley next Thursday before travelling to Latvia to continue their qualifying campaign.

“It’s only three weeks now since the last camp and the last win [against Serbia], the last performance. So the question was, why not bring the same group in?” Tuchel explained. “Because they set the standards and now it is about creating habits out of it.”

Tuchel added: “Jude is a very special player, and for special players there can always be special rules. I get this. But 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.

“I think there is an extra layer on top, 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, so he is in the period where he gets his rhythm, where he gets back to full strength. But the decision stayed for this camp.

“He wanted to be called up, we had a phone call, there is no issue from that side, he just lacks rhythm, he hasn’t finished one complete match. And on top of it, we decided to go with the same squad.”

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Jude Bellingham is back in action for Real Madrid after a recent injury (Reuters)

Tuchel apologised in the summer over describing Bellingham’s on-field behaviour as “repulsive”, a comment which he later put down to a poor choice of word in his second language.

Asked whether he has any personal issues with Bellingham, Tuchel responded: “No. There is also no problem between me and Phil Foden, there is no problem between me and Jack Grealish. Very special players. Phil is back to influencing games, deciding games for Manchester City. Jack is very close to be the best version of himself, a very special player, a very special character.

“There is no problem at all, there is no personal problem.”

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, James Trafford.

Defenders: Dan Burn, Marc Guehi, Reece James, Ezri Konsa, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jarell Quansah, Djed Spence, John Stones.