Ranking England’s No.10s on their prospects of starting at the World Cup | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel admits he has ‘tough calls’ to make over who starts for England as their no.10, so we’ve given the Three Lions boss a helping hand…

For England’s World Cup hopefuls, their last chance to impress the manager is upon them in the form of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

More than half of  Tuchel’s XI for the World Cup opener is seemingly locked down, with perhaps as many as seven stars almost assured of being in the first line-up in the United States.

The No.10 position, though, remains hotly contested, with some of Europe’s biggest talents still in need of proving themselves to Tuchel.

Here is how we’ve ranked the five leading creative midfielders based on their prospects of starting against Croatia in Dallas on June 17…

5) Eberechi Eze

The Arsenal playmaker will be fretting more over his place in the squad rather than whether he might start.

Eze was called up for Tuchel’s bloated squad for this round of friendlies that the manager described as the “last opportunity for players to compete for their ticket” to get on the plane. So a calf injury that looks set to rule him out for another month is terrible timing for the 27-year-old.

When Eze scored a hat-trick against Tottenham immediately after the last international break in November, there was an expectation that he would push to stake a claim for the starting role. But then came 15 games without a goal or an assist before he saw Dr Tottenham again.

As things stand, Eze might like to have a glance at some holiday brochures…

4) Phil Foden

Eze’s injury misfortune could benefit Foden, whose place in the squad looked in real jeopardy. It still might be.

Foden’s impressive showing as a back-up striker in the November friendlies could stand him in good stead. But Tuchel is still veering towards taking a specialist No.9 as cover for Harry Kane. As he should, frankly.

It seems ridiculous to be talking of shoehorning Foden in as anything other than a No.10 given he remains one of England’s finest technical talents. But he hasn’t shown it often enough for England or, this season, at Manchester City, aside from a brief four-game flurry of form before Christmas.

So, with Bellingham’s minutes restricted and Rogers not due to join up until the weekend, the Uruguay friendly is huge for Foden. The same goes for…

3) Cole Palmer

Like Foden, Palmer has endured an underwhelming season ahead of the World Cup, but his failure to kick on is a consequence of his fitness more than form.

For Chelsea, Palmer has nine goal involvements in the Premier League since returning in December from a niggly groin problem, but he has been shunted wide – or at least into the channels – as often as he has played centrally while Liam Rosenior faffs around in the hope of stumbling on some answers.

Eight of those nine goals or assists have come while operating centrally. Rosenior needs to realise that’s not a coincidence.

Tuchel, though, has only seen 65 minutes of Palmer in an England shirt during his 10-game reign.

Reports suggest he and Bellingham have trained in the free roles this week, with Uruguay likely to be Palmer’s big chance to show what he can do as Tuchel’s 10. He needs to seize it.

2) Jude Bellingham

The Real Madrid star has more to prove to Tuchel than whether he can link up play as a 10. We know he can do that. The concern with Bellingham is whether he can integrate with his team-mates more generally to the manager’s satisfaction.

Tuchel has not been shy in warning Bellingham about the need to be a positive presence around the squad.

He said as much when discussing the superstar’s omission in the October break when he could quite easily have used fitness as an excuse.

Given he’s in the current party, having returned initially in November, we have to assume Tuchel is happier with the atmosphere Bellingham is bringing.

Then it comes down to form and fitness in what currently looks like a two-way fight between Bellingham and Rogers for the No.10 role.

We’ll take a wait-and-see approach over his fitness, and hope that surgery has rid Bellingham of the shoulder problem he played with for probably far too long.

His recent six-week absence is due to a hamstring twang which means he is likely to be used sparingly against Uruguay and Japan. Between those two layoffs, Bellingham’s form has been… patchy.

No one on this list has proven himself, especially in big moments, for England more than the 22-year-old.

But Tuchel is not a manager to make selections based on reputation. Which means Bellingham is currently playing catch-up to…

1) Morgan Rogers

The Aston Villa star is the frontrunner to start as the No.10 because he’s the man most trusted by Tuchel to carry out all the duties demanded by the manager of his chief playmaker.

Rogers has started half of Tuchel’s 10 games as the 10, including four of the last five. The starting berth is his to lose.

Tuchel feels Rogers can bring a similar level of creativity as Bellingham, but offers more in terms of positional discipline out of possession.

Rogers, right now, is the best all-rounder in the best form throughout the season as a whole. It will surely take a misfortune on his behalf or something very special indeed from Bellingham or Palmer before the end of the season for Rogers not to start against Croatia in Dallas.