England: Thomas Tuchel sends warning to Cole Palmer over World Cup spot | OneFootball

Chelsea talisman faces a huge fight to earn his spot

Thomas Tuchel has warned Cole Palmer that he is far from guaranteed a place in England’s World Cup squad.

Palmer faces a fierce challenge in a stop-start season for Chelsea to make the final 26-man World Cup squad, where he is in a battle with Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers, Phil Foden and Eberechi Eze for the No10 role, England’s most competitive position.

“Honestly, he has to show [it], because we have more evidence without him than with him, so the pressure is on him,” Tuchel said. “He had a difficult season but he has also had a difficult spell with the national team. He was only once available for us and when he was available, we decided to stick with the same squad so there is big competition for his best position, No10.

“He really tries. When I hug him, that means he is smiling, otherwise he would not get a hug. He is in good spirits, he is open and he is communicating and is showing his quality.

“He is very engaged in the group and these are very important steps to show the performance to be involved in the group and have connections within the group, so he will get his chances during the next matches.”

Palmer’s injuries have harmed his club form throughout the last two seasons, but Tuchel is positive about his physical condition at present.

“We saw good data lately,” the England head coach revealed. “I saw him live against Arsenal and for the first time in a long time, I had the feeling his stride was back to the original lengths.

“Before, I felt he was not free and the stride was not long enough, the acceleration was not there and the movement was not free.

“I got the feedback from him and the feedback from Chelsea was that he felt during this game he was much, much better and he had a very strong game against Aston Villa with a huge physical output that we could see and from there, that was the first step. Before, we saw the physical output is matching also like the impression we have that was lacking something, but he is back to full confidence and we see it in training.”

Tuchel continued: “He is not pulling out or holding back. At the same time, that is what we wanted. We have had four training sessions and he needs to show up. He cannot hold back.

“He needs to understand he fights for his place and we will not hand anything to anyone on a silver platter. He [has approached the first few days in camp] in a very nice way in exactly the right way.”