England: Thomas Tuchel explains why Jude Bellingham was snubbed for latest squad | OneFootball

The England men’s senior player of the year has been left at home

Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham “deserves to be included” in the England squad, but left the midfielder out despite his return from injury due to a preference to keep the squad the same as September’s.

Bellingham missed the last camp, in September, after undergoing shoulder surgery and has since played four matches for Real Madrid.

But Tuchel has not named the 22-year-old in his 24-man squad for this month's games, just two days after being announced 2024/25 England men's senior player of the year.

“First of all, he's a very special player,” Tuchel explained. “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 [but] he has not gathered fully rhythm yet at Real Madrid.

“He is back in the team but hasn't finished one full match until now. He has only started one match. So he is in at the moment where he gets his rhythm, gets back to full strength. “

Tuchel on whether there is a problem between himself and Bellingham: "No. He wanted to be called up, we had a phone call.

“There is also no problem between me and Phil Foden, or between me and Jack Grealish. They are very special players.

Phil is back to influencing games, deciding games for Manchester City. Jack is very close to being the best version of himself. Very special player, very special character. There's no problem at all, and there's no personal problem in the lack of call-up.”

He added: “Do I believe we are a stronger team with Jude Bellingham? Yes. Is he one of the best midfield players in the world? Yes. But I think we found solutions in the last camp, so this is more about last camp and what we started to build last camp than the dependency on individual players."