Thomas Tuchel has explained the reasons as to why Jude Bellingham has not been called up for this month’s England squad, despite the midfielder now back fit.
Bellingham missed last month’s qualifiers as he stepped up his recovery from a shoulder operation, but has returned to action for Real Madrid since.
The 22-year-old has played four games for the Spanish giants since his comeback on September 20 – with his most recent outing being Tuesday’s 5-0 Champions League win at Kairat Almaty.
Despite playing for his club, he’s deemed not needed for his country at the moment with Tuchel opting to stick with the midfield options who helped England beat Andorra and Serbia in September.
Explaining why he has chosen his squad, Tuchel revealed he has spoken to Bellingham on the phone already.
‘The last camp was only three and a half weeks ago. Teamwork, team spirit were at the highest level so far.
‘That’s why we decided to invite the same group into this camp, to make more stable what we started to build.
‘Are there players out there who deserve to be with us? Yes, for sure. Is there a way back into the team through performance? 100 per cent.
‘We think this is the best and most straightforward position. The competition is on to be in the squad and to make it onto the pitch.
‘I understand your focus on Jude [Bellingham]; he is a very special player, and for special players, there are special rules.
‘But for this camp we decided to stick with out decision to invite the same team, that also applies to Jude. He always deserves to be in camp.
‘There is also the situation that he hasn’t gathered his full rhythm for Real Madrid. He hasn’t finished one full match until now; he has only started one now.
‘He is getting back to full strength. We had a phone call. There is no issue from that side, he just lacks rhythm.’
As a result of Tuchel’s words his midfield options, for the friendly against Wales on October and World Cup qualifier against Latvia on October 14, are Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jordan Henderson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Declan Rice and Morgan Rogers.
Of that sextuplet, it would appear that Bellingham would be in direct competition with Gibbs-White and Rogers as they are more attack-minded.
Tuchel’s relationship with Bellingham has been in the spotlight since June when the German revealed that his mother, Gabriele, finds the midfielder’s on-field demeanour ‘repulsive’ after the England star kicked a water cooler in rage following the Three Lions’ defeat by Senegal.
In addition too, the 52-year-old said Bellingham can intimidate team-mates because of his over-aggressive manner.
When it was put to that England could be better off without Bellingham, he told talkSPORT: ‘I struggle to see that. I think he brings an edge, which we welcome and which is needed if we want to achieve big things.
‘(But) the edge needs to be channelled toward the opponent, towards our goal and not to intimidate team-mates, or to be over aggressive to team-mates or referees. He has the fire. I don’t want to dim this down. He should play with this kind of fire, that’s his strength.
‘But the fire comes also with some attributes that can intimidate you, maybe even as a team-mate.
‘You see sometimes the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game, so if he can channel this in the right way, and we can help him in this, then for sure he has the something that we need. He has a certain edge that is hard to find.
‘But I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see.
‘If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV. I see that, but in general we are very happy to have him.
‘He is a special boy. He is a nice kid and very open, very intelligent – and very easy (to manage), so far.’
