Three Lions Team Selection Announced: Jude and Phil Omitted, Saka Returns
The England manager has chosen to retain the identical England squad that secured victory against their previous opponents and delivered an impressive performance in Serbia during the previous international break, finding no place for the Real Madrid star and the Manchester City attacker in his selection for the upcoming friendly against Wales and the qualifying match in the Baltic nation.
Although Phil Foden making a strong case for a recall after regaining his top condition at Manchester City, and Jude Bellingham having made a comeback for his Spanish club following a surgical procedure, the head coach has opted not to including two of the nation's most prominent attacking talents. Bellingham has started only once for his team since his comeback.
Tuchel has made room for the Arsenal winger, who is fully recovered and has been restored in place of his unavailable club colleague Noni Madueke. Jack Grealish has not received a return to the squad.
Complete Three Lions Squad List
Shot-stoppers
- Dean Henderson (his club)
- Jordan Pickford (Everton)
- James Trafford (Manchester City)
Defenders
- Newcastle's defender (the Magpies)
- Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace)
- Reece James (the Blues)
- Aston Villa's defender (the Villans)
- Arsenal's young talent (Arsenal)
- Jarell Quansah (the German club)
- Tottenham's defender (Tottenham Hotspur)
- John Stones (Manchester City)
Engine room
- Nottingham Forest's midfielder (Forest)
- Morgan Gibbs-White (the Reds)
- Brentford's experienced head (the Bees)
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Milan)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- Morgan Rogers (the Midlands club)
Forwards
- Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United)
- Arsenal's attacker (Arsenal)
- Anthony Gordon (the Geordies)
- Harry Kane (the German giants)
- Barcelona's loanee (the Catalan club, loan from Manchester United)
- Bukayo Saka (the Gunners)
- Aston Villa's forward (Villa)
The national team coach expressed his admiration for the vibrancy in the previous selection and appears determined to maintaining the vibe. The Newcastle defender, who featured at left-back in the 5-0 win in Serbia, has dropped out due to a knee injury. The manager has opted against selecting a like-for-like substitute for the Newcastle player but has included John Stones, who had to pull out last month. Tuchel has spoken about the Manchester City defender's importance for England and has floated the idea of deploying him in the middle of the park.
No spot has been found for the midfielder, who was selected in the previous squad but withdrew due to injury and was substituted by the Milan player.
The manager stated: “It was only three weeks after the previous gathering and the most recent victory, the last performance, so the consideration was why not select the identical squad in because they established a benchmark. The focus now is on creating habits out of it. We have unfortunately two injuries at the moment with Livramento and Madueke and we welcome of course the Arsenal forward in to take the place of Madueke. The defender was a late call-up last time; he will stay in camp.”