Gary Lineker believes there is ‘something personal’ between Thomas Tuchel and Trent Alexander-Arnold, which led to the England head coach leaving the right-back out of his latest Three Lions squad.
Alexander-Arnold was a surprising omission from Tuchel’s England group for the current international break, with the once-exiled Ben White getting the nod ahead of the Real Madrid defender in the 35-man squad.
White, who replaced the injured Jarell Quansah in the squad, went on to mark his return to the England set-up with his first international goal in the Three Lions’ 1-1 draw with Uruguay at Wembley last week.
However, Lineker has bashed Tuchel’s decision to include White ahead of Alexander-Arnold as ‘really insulting’.
‘You know I’m obviously a big admirer of Trent,’ The Rest is Football podcast. ‘I think there’s something personal because football-wise there’s no argument. I can’t see how he can not be in that squad because he has to improve your chances, even if it’s from the bench.
‘So I suspect there’s something that Tuchel does not like about Trent Alexander-Arnold. I’m just guessing in terms of what it might be, whether it’s his attitude, whether it’s he’s not brilliant defensively. There has to be something in that because it makes absolutely no sense.’
Alexander-Arnold is behind a plethora of talent in the bid for an England spot, with the likes of Tino Livramento and Djed Spence being selected in front of him for the latest squad, which Tuchel deemed as the ‘last chance’ for players to seal a spot on the plane for the World Cup in the summer.
Chelsea captain Reece James, who missed the latest squad through injury, is also likely to be ahead of the former Liverpool man in the fight for the starting right-back spot.
Lineker added: ‘You got players playing in his position, with all due respect, that are not in the same league as him, certainly with the ball at his feet.
‘As you saw in these kinds of games, you need someone with a bit of magic to unlock things, and he will provide you that. So it doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t know whether it’s his attitude or whatever it is, I don’t know.
‘But I find it also quite insulting bringing players in. We talk about the Ben White situation, for example, here. He’s not wanted to play for England. I wouldn’t judge him on that because we don’t really know what exactly happened in the camp and his reasons for not playing.
‘The players do within the squad, and you know there were talks about big fall-outs and him not being treated very well, you know, and then Tuchel says he’s called him up, he’s brought him in.
‘That’s fine, but I can’t see how he can still be ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold. I think that it’s really insulting to a seriously top full-back. So that’s my view.’
Following his exclusion from the latest England squad, Alexander-Arnold took to Instagram with the message ‘Madrid. Y nada mas’, which translates to ‘Madrid. And nothing else’.
Tuchel was asked for his views on the post by ITV ahead of England’s friendly against Uruguay, and was empathetic of Alexander-Arnold’s position.
‘As a response to not being nominated?’ Tuchel asked when made aware of the full back’s post. ‘Well, fair enough, fair enough.
‘I think it is a very hard decision that we took. No doubt about his talent, no doubt about his career, and what he can give to teams.
‘We created a slightly different game model when he was not in camp in September, October, November – it was a game model that was built on intensity and positivity, built even on the profile of the right full back on overlaps, underlaps, very intense.
‘It was a slightly different profile of players in camp who performed so well. We just stick to these guys.’
Tuchel’s Three Lions play their second and final friendly of the international break against Japan at Wembley on Tuesday night.
