🔗 Share this article

Thomas Tuchel stated that he holds "no issue" with Jack Grealish after the trio did not make the England squad for upcoming fixtures against Wales and Latvia.

The midfielder did not earn a recall despite recovering from a shoulder injury, while the Manchester City and Everton players also miss out despite displaying a return to form with their respective clubs.

The German manager revealed that the 22-year-old desired to be included of the squad, having spoken with him on the phone.

"Bellingham is a special player, and for exceptional talents there can always be exceptions," Tuchel said regarding Bellingham, who has made just one start since coming back to fitness.

"However we opted to stick with the straightforward decision of calling up the identical squad.

"Bellingham always deserves to be here. There is also the situation that he has not quite found his full rhythm yet at his club - he has not completed a full match.

"He wanted to be called up. We had a telephone conversation."

Tuchel made an effort to emphasize his positive relationship with Bellingham after Tuchel said sorry to him earlier this year for calling his on-pitch behavior as "repulsive" in a televised interview.

Tuchel stated that he uttered those terms "without meaning to" and promised to be more careful going forward.

Inquired if he had any issue with Bellingham, Tuchel said: "No. There is no issue either with Phil Foden or Grealish.

"Phil is back to influencing and deciding games for his club. Jack is almost to returning to the best version of himself.

"There exists no personal issue."

Saka taking the place of the hurt Madueke is the sole alteration to the previous squad, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jarell Quansah retaining their places after joining as late additions last month due to injury.

England face the Welsh team in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before a qualifying match in the Latvian capital on October 14.

If England win in the away fixture, they will require a maximum of two points from their remaining two matches - against Albania and Serbia in November - to secure a spot in next summer's tournament in North America.

Impressive Display Under Tuchel

England produced their finest performance significantly under the manager's guidance when they defeated the Serbian team 5-0 on the road in the Serbian capital in their previous match.

The coach stated that performance made it an easy decision to keep mostly the same squad, though "there are absolutely no guarantees" for every squad member regarding being picked.

"Our previous gathering was just three and a half weeks ago and the teamwork and spirit was at its peak. That is the reason we decided to call up the same group to this session," he commented.

"Foden is in a excellent run of form. Wharton merits to be with us. Curtis Jones and Trevoh Chalobah are getting playing time with their teams.

"We have players who deserve to be here. Cole Palmer is injured and is a key talent. It will consistently remain like this.

"Are we a stronger side with Bellingham? Yes. But I mentioned before, what do we do if Jude is unavailable before the World Cup? Do we just cancel?"

Tuchel's Press Conference Gets Noticed

Thomas Tuchel again delivered a box office press briefing.

Tuchel, a expert of handling his relationship with the press, began with an initial remarks to set out his reasoning for his decisions.

The midfielder is fit and available and wanted to come to the squad, but Tuchel explained he did not want to alter the team significantly after a impressive five-goal win over Serbia - where the boss said unity was extremely strong.

But with him not selecting the star, and his frequent remarks about togetherness, it is hard not to link the two - even though Tuchel insisted multiple times how he is "exceptional" and that there is "no issue" between Tuchel and one of England's star players.

Tuchel has consistently made it evident that he wanted to make the England squad feel like a club team and, by keeping the identical selection after a big victory, he has achieved that. But the inquiries will arise once more in the following session if England perform strongly in these upcoming fixtures.