Thomas Tuchel’s continued snub of Trent Alexander-Arnold is ‘mind-boggling’, according to Wayne Rooney.
The ex-Man United and England legend has weighed in on the Three Lions boss’ decision to omit the defender from his most recent squads – with the Real Madrid star seemingly unlikely to be picked for the World Cup.
Ben White came back in from the cold for games against Uruguay and Japan in March but Rooney is struggling to understand Tuchel’s thinking.
‘No disrespect to Ben White, I think he’s a really good player, but for him to be in the squad and play ahead of Trent, I find it mind-boggling,’ Rooney, speaking on the BBC’s Wayne Rooney Show, said.
Alexander-Arnold, 27, has overcome injury issues to become a regular in Alvaro Arbeloa’s side but struggled to show his best, with the Spanish giants floundering on and off the pitch.
His last England cap came off the bench against Andorra almost a year ago.
Wayne Rooney, pictured at the PSG vs Bayern Munich Champions League semi-final, cannot fathom why Trent Alexander-Arnold is not in Thomas Tuchel’s England plans
And it would be a major U-turn for Tuchel to parachute him into the group for the World Cup this summer, having opted for Jarrell Quansah, White, Reece James, Tino Livramento and Djed Spence over him since then.
And James is the man who Rooney would pick for the campaign in the US.
He added: ‘We don’t need our full-backs to be the most attacking, we need them to defend.’
Rooney went on to say his back four would be completed by Harry Maguire, Marc Guehi and Luke Shaw, despite the Man United left-back appearing to be a long-shot to make the squad.
‘We’ve got attacking ability at the top end of the pitch,’ he went on. ‘We don’t need them to be bombing forward, keep the balance and let the attacking players win you the games.
‘In terms of the lads who are in there, you wouldn’t say they were the best defensively anyway.’
Alexander-Arnold’s continued absence has been one of the most high-profile decisions made by Tuchel in his time as England boss and Rooney is far from the only critic.
In March, Gary Lineker suggested the decision might be a personal one.
‘You know I’m obviously a big admirer of Trent,’ Lineker said on 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.
Alexander-Arnold starts for Real Madrid but finds himself out in the cold with his national side
‘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.’
‘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 in March, Alexander-Arnold took to Instagram and bit back with the message ‘Madrid. Y nada mas’, which translates to ‘Madrid. And nothing else’.
When asked about Alexander-Arnold not making the recent squad, Tuchel said: ‘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.’
