Tuchel explains why Palmer, Foden and more have missed out on England squad | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel’s has explained why he left out Cole Palmer and Phil Foden out of his England World Cup squad.

The German named his squad for the 2026 World Cup squad and has omitted some big names including Chelsea’s Palmer, Man City’s Foden and Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Tuchel explained why he left out players like Palmer who have played big parts in England’s qualification to the World Cup.

“I don’t fear leaving them out,” he said. “Because I am very confident in the group that we chose of which we arrive with. Very difficult decisions, painful conversations. Difficult for the players, difficult to explain to the players. What we’re trying to achieve as a team and we try to nominate a balanced squad. If everyone is selected, it was a given that from these 55 players, we have to leave some extraordinary talents, some extraordinary personalities at home.

“Either way, if we picked all those names, some other big five names would have been out and we would be talking about these names. It comes with the job. I like these kinds of decisions, even if it sometimes took weeks and sometimes, months to clarify the decisions. I think they bring clarity. At the end, they bring a certain edge that is necessary.

“I try to explain for the players the reason they could be in camp. Did they do anything wrong? No. Could they be in camp? Yes. 100% sure. But for some of them, it is just the amount of players in a certain position. We didn’t want to play the players out of position so much and we wanted to give them a clear role and it comes with difficult and maybe hard choices in the build up to the tournament.

“It is important for me to say that I am very grateful to all the players who have helped us qualify, to the players who have had one of six camps with us. Very grateful and I tried to show my respect and appreciation for what they have done, in telling them in person or phone calls in the last three days about my decision.

“So I called every player that was at least once with us, personally, to tell them my decision, even if it was a painful decision or it was a disappointing message. We believe it has to be delivered from me, I will not go into details of course but I tried to explain and express my appreciation and respect for the player.”

Tuchel said that his aim was not to pick the best players, instead going for the best group of players together.

“Of course you saw our squad selection for the World Cup, which is an exciting day for me and for everyone selected.

“I think from day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players.

“Teams win championships, it is as simple as that. What we are trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team.”