Biggest England World Cup snubs as Thomas Tuchel makes shock squad calls | OneFootball

Three Lions boss has been bold with 26-man selection for this summer’s tournament

Thomas Tuchel has named his England World Cup squad, making headlines with a number of controversial selection calls.

On Friday morning came confirmation of the Three Lions’ 26-man travelling group for this summer’s tournament in North America, with some surprising names picked and a number of high-profile international regulars omitted.

Here, Standard Sport assesses some of the biggest names to miss out on England’s World Cup squad.

The Chelsea forward is the biggest name to be left at home. Even at the start of the season, not taking Palmer to the World Cup would have been unthinkable.

His form during the 2023-24 season, and off the bench for England at Euro 2024, was exceptional.

But his drop-off during an injury-disrupted season has been stark. In the end, Tuchel felt the other No10 options available to him were better. Palmer will be gutted, though Chelsea may see a summer off for him as no bad thing.

Phil Foden

In a similar position to Palmer. His Manchester City career has been filled with trophies and outstanding individual moments, but he has this season lost his place in Pep Guardiola’s team and scored only four goals in 49 appearances for his country.

On his day, clearly one of the most capable playmakers England has ever produced. The problem is that he just does not show it often enough.

Left at home: Neither Phil Foden or Cole Palmer will be going to the World Cup with England

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Harry Maguire

Maguire’s snub was the first piece of England squad news to break on Thursday evening.

He said he was “gutted”, while his mother Zoe went further, posting on social media that it was “disgraceful”.

Maguire has had an excellent season for Manchester United, been to three major tournaments before, and is England’s all-time leading scorer among defenders.

An inconsistent and injury-plagued first season at Real Madrid served to further complicate an already complex situation with Alexander-Arnold and England.

He last made an England squad in June 2026, when he was benched against Senegal and played only 26 minutes against lowly Andorra. Despite his magnificent passing range, Tuchel has used him more sparingly even than predecessor Gareth Southgate.

Adam Wharton

The Crystal Palace midfielder was selected for England’s provisional Euro 2024 squad in what was his first-ever senior call-up, and he then went to the tournament but did not play a minute.

While Tuchel was originally sceptical of Wharton’s ability to cover large distances off the ball, he appeared to convince the German that he should be taken seriously. However, he has missed the cut, his forward passing not ultimately enough for selection.

Jarrod Bowen

Tuchel has used Bowen sparingly because of his fondness for the more direct and risk-taking Noni Madueke as the favoured understudy to first-choice right winger Bukayo Saka.

A grim season at West Ham has come despite the best efforts of Bowen, who has led from the front and been consistently diligent and hard-working. He is one of the most unlucky to miss out.

Unlucky: Jarrod Bowen can count himself hard done by despite West Ham’s difficult season

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Lewis Hall

While Nico O’Reilly is the better player and has had the better season, there were plenty of England fans who fancied Newcastle’s Hall as the starting left-back for England this summer, owing to his traditional full-back qualities, crossing delivery, and defensive positioning.

Given all that, he is one of the most surprising exclusions from Tuchel’s squad.

Morgan Gibbs-White

No English player in the Premier League has more goals or assists since the turn of the year than Gibbs-White, who balanced clutch moments with commendable leadership qualities to haul Nottingham Forest to the Europa League semi-finals and, more impressively, top-flight safety.

The form option in the No10 position, but perhaps a victim of not being able to also deputise out wide. Eberechi Eze and Morgan Rogers, selected ahead of him, both can.

Tuchel had been impressed with the Chelsea centre-back’s two-and-a-half games’ worth of performances since his return from a knee injury suffered in the Blues’ first training session of pre-season last summer.

That said, it proved not quite enough time to force his way back into the reckoning.