Thomas Tuchel has shared plans to speak to Jude Bellingham to discuss his England future

England[1] boss Thomas Tuchel[2] says he will speak to Jude Bellingham[3] before deciding whether to reintegrate the Real Madrid[4] star, warning those on the outside that his standards of conduct are ‘non-negotiable’.

The head coach will wait before making a call on Bellingham’s return to the squad for November’s final World Cup qualifiers, after his shock omission from this month’s matches.

In his absence, the team sealed their place at next summer’s tournament in North America with a 5-0 win in Latvia on Tuesday. This came on the back of last month’s victory by the same scoreline in Serbia – again without Bellingham – after which Tuchel praised the collective spirit of his players.

That felt like a not-so-subtle reminder to Bellingham of what he expects in terms of support for team-mates[5], especially on the back of his comments about the midfielder’s ‘repulsive’ on-the-pitch demeanour. He later apologised for the use of that word.

But Tuchel was asked on the back of qualification if those players vying for a return to the squad, like Bellingham, had to buy into the spirit created in recent camps.

‘One hundred per cent,’ he said. ‘But if we invite them, we are sure they will buy in, or we will not invite them. Why would we? This is, how do you say, a non-negotiable.’

Thomas Tuchel has shared plans to speak to Jude Bellingham to discuss his England future

Thomas Tuchel has shared plans to speak to Jude Bellingham to discuss his England future

The Real Madrid star has been absent from England’s last two camps ahead of the World Cup

Will he talk to Bellingham in the coming weeks?

‘I guess so, why not?’ said Tuchel. ‘Of course, he’s an important player, he’s a big player. I will speak to a lot of players, also to the guys who were not in camp, they will get texts from me, especially them.

‘These guys who are now here, they have the reward and they feel the reward. It’s now necessary also I stay in touch with the other guys. No one has done anything wrong. It’s not a punishment. I feel when I text them, or I speak to them, everyone is eager to come back. This is how it has to be and I have trust in more players than here.

‘We always speak about the same names, but we have Conor Gallagher, Trevor Chalobah, we have Cole Palmer injured, and a lot of other guys who deserve to be with us and are hungry and determined to be with us, and it has to be like that.’

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Tuchel’s team have come a long way since the 3-1 defeat by Senegal in a June friendly, qualifying for the World Cup with six wins from six and an aggregate score of 18-0.

And the German believes the chances of returning victorious next summer have improved in that time.

‘It’s a possibility, yes, it’s a possibility (to win the World Cup),’ he said. ‘We will get there. I cannot promise that we will win it, but I feel that we will get there with a strong team, and a strong cohesion and the right spirit. It’s building, and you can see it on the pitch, and this is the basis for all of it.’

References

  1. ^ England (www.dailymail.co.uk)
  2. ^ Thomas Tuchel (www.dailymail.co.uk)
  3. ^ Jude Bellingham (www.dailymail.co.uk)
  4. ^ Real Madrid (www.dailymail.co.uk)
  5. ^ what he expects in terms of support for team-mates (www.dailymail.co.uk)

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