Jude Bellingham snub would be unimaginable for Thomas Tuchel and England

Real Madrid star was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s last squad but will surely make his Three Lions return for the upcoming games against Serbia and Albania

There could have been any number of reasons why Thomas Tuchel decided not to go and watch Jude Bellingham play for Real Madrid against Liverpool at Anfield. It might have been his day off.

Or he might just not have fancied a sodden Tuesday night on Merseyside. He would not be the first foreign manager of England seemingly averse to the wet and chilly north.

But the most likely reason is that Tuchel knows all he needs to know about the youngest player to make 50 Champions League appearances. He is fully fit again and was outstanding for Real Madrid in their 2-1 win over Barcelona and their 4-0 victory over Valencia.

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If Tuchel watched the Liverpool-Real match on television, he would have seen Bellingham have a relatively ineffective night, but that was strictly in keeping with the overall performance of Xabi Alonso’s team. And occasionally, Bellingham looked as though he might make something happen, bringing a decent save out of Giorgi Mamardashvili on the stroke of half-time after a rare moment of incision from a visiting player.

But Tuchel would not be making any judgement on just one game, anyway. If, when leaving him out of the last squad, Tuchel was allowing Bellingham to get himself back to full fitness then that has been achieved.

When Tuchel names the squad for engagements against Serbia at Wembley and against Albania in Tirana, it will be the last time he names a squad for a competitive fixture ahead of choosing the players who will go to World Cup 2026. And quite simply, if he is fit, it is hard to envisage a 26-man England roster that does not have Bellingham’s name on it.

Which is why Tuchel leaving Bellingham out of the squad that will be announced on Friday morning is hard to imagine. In any sport – or in any walk of life – they always say the best judges of someone are his or her peers.

Well, earlier this week, over 26,000 professional footballers from 68 countries voted for the 2025 FIFPRO World 11 … and Bellingham was in it. To suggest he should not make the England cut is mystifying.

Yes, we have all heard the suggestions he can be a bit hot-headed, can have a pop at a team-mate or two, which might demoralise the more sensitive. But seriously, while he has his moments, has Bellingham ever come across as some sort of loose cannon?

With this being the last camp for four months, you would have thought Tuchel would get a squad together that closely resembles the one he will take to World Cup 2026, injuries permitting. Expect to see Reece James back in the squad while Adam Wharton might well get the nod.

But even though they are in decent nick, there is a strong chance that neither Phil Foden – despite his vastly improved form for Manchester City recently, highlighted by that nice goal against Borussia Dortmund – nor Jack Grealish will return to the fold. There is, of course, a lot of club football to be played between now and the World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico

There will be injury and form issues. But it is already clear that Grealish and even Foden face a real battle to be part of Tuchel’s final squad next summer.

Looking at him in City’s win over Dortmund, to go without a fit Foden would seem unthinkable. But to go without a fit Bellingham would be unimaginable.

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