Jude Bellingham's Selection Battle Under Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel has never been shy of a selection battle. Now he has planted one squarely at the feet of Jude Bellingham.
The England manager, preparing for his first World Cup in charge, insists the Real Madrid midfielder is “one of the starters” – but only one among a crowded field. In Tuchel’s mind, England do not have an XI. They have 14 or 15.
“Yes, he has,” Tuchel said when asked if Bellingham faces a fight to make the team. “He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters. These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them.”
That small phrase – “one of them” – underlines how sharply the landscape has shifted for a player who once seemed untouchable in an England shirt. At Euro 2024, Bellingham was the heartbeat of Gareth Southgate’s side, missing just 29 minutes across seven matches. Now, under Southgate’s successor, he is no longer the automatic choice.
Tuchel’s tenure has brought a different hierarchy and a different favourite. Morgan Rogers, the Aston Villa midfielder, has become the constant. Rogers has featured in 12 of Tuchel’s 13 games in charge and was the only player involved in all eight World Cup qualifiers. While Bellingham has started four times and come off the bench three more, Rogers has been the ever-present.
Injuries have not helped Bellingham’s cause. The 22-year-old missed two qualifiers last September with a shoulder problem, then watched October’s camp – including a key qualifier against Latvia – from home after being overlooked. He returned to the squad in November, only for a lingering hamstring issue to rule him out of March’s friendlies.
The stop-start rhythm of his England career under Tuchel has played out against the backdrop of a strained relationship. The manager’s blunt assessment of Bellingham’s on-field behaviour in last June’s defeat to Senegal – branding it “repulsive” – ignited a storm. Tuchel later apologised, but the remark hung in the air, a public sign of tension between star player and new regime.
The scrutiny did not ease. In November, after Bellingham reacted angrily to being substituted in a qualifier against Albania, Tuchel spoke of the need to “review” the midfielder’s behaviour. It was another reminder that, under this manager, status alone would not shield anyone from criticism.
Yet football moves quickly, and so, it seems, has this relationship.
In Tampa on Saturday, Bellingham came off the bench at half-time in a World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand and left a very different impression. England edged a 1-0 win; Bellingham took the captain’s armband and, in Tuchel’s eyes, something clicked.
“You can see Jude has for sure the decisiveness and bite,” Tuchel said. “This is his key characteristic, but you can see that he comes from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch.”
He referenced the timing of Bellingham’s lay-off – a blow to both player and club. “He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season, the Champions League season and campaign for the championship in Spain, so this was very unfortunate for Real Madrid and for him personally. But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he's fresh, he wants to play and he's in top shape.”
That “sweet spot” is what England have been waiting for. A fully fit, fully focused Bellingham, stripped of fatigue after a gruelling club season, is a weapon few nations can match. The question is no longer whether he is good enough, but how Tuchel fits him into a structure that has evolved without him at its centre.
Rogers’ rise has been no accident. Tuchel has built trust in the Villa man across the entire qualifying campaign, using him as a tactical reference point and a symbol of his new era. Dropping him now would be a significant call. Elevating Bellingham back to undisputed starter status would be another.
So the message from the manager is clear and calculated. Bellingham is important, but he is not immune. He is “one of” many, not the sun around which everything else orbits.
For a player who has made a habit of bending big occasions to his will, that sounds like a challenge as much as reassurance. The World Cup will reveal whether Jude Bellingham treats it as exactly that – and forces Tuchel to stop talking about 14 or 15 starters, and start building the team around one.
