Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup gamble on Jude Bellingham as England boss prepares to get ruthless | OneFootball

The manager has given his star player a big point to prove on his recall to the squad ahead of next summer’s tournament

Jude Bellingham’s omission from the England squad last month had many fans worried that Thomas Tuchel was considering the unthinkable — mounting his bid to win next summer’s World Cup without the Real Madrid galactico. Was the German clipping his star midfielder’s wings for ruffling a few feathers, or was he genuinely about to exile a truly world-class talent for the sake of the collective?

Tuchel escaped more furore when omitting Bellingham because he had started only once since shoulder surgery. With three goals and an assist in his past five games, he is back fit and in form for Real Madrid and back with England too. Tuchel must now earn his corn and get the best out of him. England won all four games without Bellingham this autumn and hit a new level under Tuchel, leaving the onus also on the midfielder to reclaim his spot in the team.

Tuchel’s directive to Bellingham and also-returning Phil Foden is clear: “We have something going here. We are building something. We are super excited you are back, but the message is — contribute to it.”

Bellingham and Morgan Rogers - rivals for a place in the starting XI - at England training

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The big question now is whether the manager and star player can now work in harmony as they bid to put a second star on the shirt?

Superstar tendencies

Bellingham is England’s galactico, strutting his stuff in the Los Blancos midfield with No5 on his back, heir to the legendary Zinedine Zidane, and not dissimilar in his elegant yet all-action style. An A-lister who makes others feel like B-listers, he is one of the most marketable footballers on the planet and an exceptional player, too. Football data experts CIES value him at £158million, the fourth-most valuable footballer in the world behind only Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland and his Real team-mate Kylian Mbappé.

At 22 years and 128 days, Bellingham last week replaced Iker Casillas as the youngest player to reach 50 Champions League appearances and already has 44 England caps. If he steers clear of serious injury problems, there is no reason he couldn’t end his career setting a new mark as England’s most capped player.

You could imagine him resting on his laurels, but he doesn’t. Half of his six England goals have come after the 87th minute in matches they were chasing an equaliser. Not just ability; he has the drive to match.

Bellingham shares that knack for extraordinary moments with the sport’s all-time greats, keeping England alive at Euro 2024 with a 95th-minute bicycle-kick leveller against Slovakia in the last-16. He may have exposed his well-stocked ego when shouting “Who else?” amid those raucous celebrations, inset, rubbing some people the wrong way — but didn’t he have a point?

Tense: Tuchel speaks to Bellingham during the defeat to Senegal

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It’s no surprise he heads up FA campaigns with lead sponsors, is the face of Adidas and represents Louis Vuitton. In the EA Sports FC 25 video game, Bellingham became its youngest-ever cover star. Here is celebrity X factor on a scale seldom seen among English players, the archetype GQ footballer.

The Stourbridge-born superstar was playing for Birmingham City when he was 16 and became the most expensive 17-year-old in history when he joined Borussia Dortmund for an initial £25m in 2020. At Real, he has won La Liga and the Champions League. A steady stream of accolades has kept Bellingham’s name in lights.

It is difficult to imagine this England team proving to be the one that ends the years of hurt without Bellingham being at the heart of it all. What would be said of him if he retired tomorrow? Among other things, that he’s a winner.

Harness ‘the fire’ for good

Bellingham’s last act in an England shirt was kicking a water cooler in anger after June’s grim defeat to Senegal. Harry Kane leant a hand into Bellingham’s chest, guarding him against blowing over, the captain saying little but also a lot.

Quite apart from his football ability, Bellingham’s “edge”, his “fire”, sets him apart. It sometimes seems he can turn a game by sheer force of will.

Tuchel last week called it “water under the bridge”, indicating it had initially upset Bellingham. At the time it created needless headlines and did little to quash what sections of the public have felt for some time: that Bellingham’s attitude can be different from other England players’, often ill-tempered and thorny in the heat of battle.

Tuchel stresses he has “no problem” with him but said in that same June radio interview that his edge must be “channelled”, “not [used] to intimidate team-mates” — quite the remark, and one the head coach sidestepped questions on in a Wembley corporate box last week.

Bellingham celebrates scoring for Real Madrid against Barcelona in October

REUTERS

One fear: Bellingham is the sort of character who could let the red mist become a red card come tournament time, à la David Beckham, 1998, and Wayne Rooney, 2006.

“I think we all need to help him, and to encourage him, or to create an environment that he can live this edge towards the opponent, towards the goals that we are building as a team,” Tuchel said.

His face is plastered on advertisements the world over and yet there remains something mysterious about Bellingham. To see him being interviewed is to hear a highly articulate young man with a talent for diplomacy and maturity beyond his years. But he has never spoken at a non-contractual England press conference, and when he stated last November that he’d been made a scapegoat for England’s failure to win Euro 2024, heads were scratched. Within the England camp, though, he is seen as playful, polite and a natural leader.

Playmaker, predator, piston

Early in his tenure, Tuchel told “special” Bellingham he sees him chiefly as a No10, where fiercer competition exists than in any other role. Chemistry with Kane, who Bellingham has assisted only once in 35 games together, is vital.

Morgan Rogers has staked his claim, a selfless team player who has shown he plays the role reliably. Besides him are livewire Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer — whose injuries have limited him to only 65 minutes of action under Tuchel — and Morgan Gibbs-White, not selected this month. Oh, and Foden, whose potential as a No9-10 hybrid is the German’s “long-time fantasy”.

His challenge is to select his most effective weapons, however hard it may be to leave the others behind. Each offers something unique, each more than good enough to be England’s creative lynchpin.

Bellingham’s first goal of the season arrived last month when Vinícius Jr struck the post and the Englishman lurked to gobble up the rebound from five yards out. Tuchel wants a piece of that for England, a No10 Bellingham popping up with No9 goals.

Phil Foden is also sweating on his England place as Tuchel considers his attacking options

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“For different [No10s], I would have different expectations,” he admitted. It wouldn’t be how Rogers or Foden play the role, but you “always get it from Jude”, that hunger and sixth sense.

Real boss Xabi Alonso has him playing No10, scoring but responsible also for feeding others, harrying and ball-carrying in midfield. Tuchel’s vision is remarkably similar: make his individual brilliance additive to the collective.

Tuchel talks of No6s, 8s, and 10s. He wants one of each in his midfield, likely Elliot Anderson deepest, Declan Rice just ahead, then Bellingham. But at the World Cup they will switch between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 in-game. Rice must be a No6 and 8 at different moments against different opponents; Bellingham a 10 with the best parts of his No8 iteration from Qatar 2022.

In Berlin after defeat in the Euro 2024 final, Bellingham was quizzed whether his Slovakia stunner offered solace for missing out on the trophy. With a disconsolate puff of the cheeks, he murmured: “Not really. I came here to win”. Tuchel, and Bellingham himself, must channel that within him.