Thomas Tuchel’s late arrival as England manager is to blame for widespread withdrawals after eight players pulled out of Lee Carsley’s final squad
Premier League clubs are privately blaming Thomas Tuchel’s late arrival as permanent England head coach as a key reason behind the glut of squad withdrawals this week.
England interim head coach Lee Carsley’s plans for Thursday’s Nations League clash against Greece and Sunday’s final group game versus Ireland have been decimated as a result of eight pull-outs.
Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Aaron Ramsdale have all dropped out of the squad.
There was further concern on Tuesday when one of the replacements – Jarrad Branthwaite – did not participate in full training, a development that saw Liverpool centre-back Jarrell Quansah drafted in as temporary cover for Carsley’s penultimate session before the game in Athens.
Mail Sport understands that at least two of the withdrawals are precautionary rather than because of injuries that would prevent their participation in one or both of this week’s games.
Thomas Tuchel has been appointed England’s new manager but won’t start until January
Eight players, including Cole Palmer (left) and Declan Rice (centre) have pulled out of England’s latest squad
Clubs feel Tuchel’s late arrival has led to Lee Carsley being left with a depleted squad
The large number of players named in the original squad to become unavailable this week has not come as a shock to leading figures at top-flight clubs, who believe the Football Association’s agreement with Tuchel that he starts work on January 1 has led to the raft of casualties.
Previous head coach Gareth Southgate successfully nurtured a culture during his eight-year reign that saw players fear dropping out of squads because they felt their place maybe at risk in the future.
Indeed players – Luke Shaw, Jude Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold among them – would often report to St George’s Park even when they were injured.
While the next two games will be crucial towards ensuring England returning to the Nations League top tier next season – and avoid a play-off scenario in March, which will be Tuchel’s first matches in charge – there is a sense from clubs that the forthcoming fixtures have lost a degree of gravitas because the German has already been confirmed as new head coach – but won’t be on the touchline.
Historically, the November international window is often hit by squad withdrawals.
This time last year, an initial six players pulled out of the games against Malta and North Macedonia with that figure rising to seven.
Twelve months earlier, Gareth Southgate’s side were hit by six withdrawals which eventually increased to eight.
