Jude Bellingham still important member of England squad, says Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel intends to speak to Bellingham in between now and the November games against Serbia and Albania
Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham is still an important member of the England squad, despite being absent as they qualified for the World Cup.
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Bellingham was a notable omission from Tuchel’s group as they beat Wales in a friendly and then confirmed their place at next summer’s tournament in North America with a 5-0 thumping of Latvia.
The Real Madrid star had been making his way back from shoulder surgery and had yet to complete 90 minutes when Tuchel named his squad, but his absence was still a big talking point.
The German intends to speak to Bellingham in between now and the November games against Serbia and Albania, with a view to him possibly being recalled.
He said: “I guess so. Why not? Of course, he’s an important player, he’s a big player.
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“I will speak to a lot of players, also to the guys that will get a text from me, who were not in camp, especially them.
“Because these guys who are now here, they have the reward and they feel the reward.“And it’s now necessary also that I stay in touch with the other guys.
“No one has done anything wrong. It’s not a punishment or whatever and I feel when I text them and I speak to them, that everyone is eager to come back and this is how it has to be.
“So there are a lot of guys out there who would deserve to be with us.”
The noise around Bellingham’s absence was heightened as it came on the back of Tuchel having to apologise after mistakenly saying in an interview that his mother found the midfielder “repulsive”.
Tuchel insisted there had been no issue between the pair and that Bellingham would buy in to his methods if he did return next month.
The former Chelsea boss said of Bellingham and other notable absentees such as Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jack Grealish: “I don’t doubt, if we invite them, then we are sure that they will buy in.
“Otherwise we will not invite them. Why would we? This is a non-negotiable.
“I trust in more players than (are) here. We always speak about the same names, but we have Conor Gallagher, we have Trevoh Chalobah and we have Cole Palmer injured.
“So there are a lot of guys out there who would deserve to be with them and who are hungry and determined to be with us. It has to be like that.”