Tuchel’s England Squad: Bold Decisions and Key Omissions
Blimey is right.
Thomas Tuchel has named his latest England squad for the November Nations League games against Croatia and Spain – and it is loaded with storylines. No Cole Palmer. Ben White back in from the cold. Debutants on the rise, including Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of Jude. This isn’t a quiet, routine international break. It’s a selection that throws petrol on every major England debate.
Tuchel has never been afraid of a bold decision. This list proves it.
Palmer on the outside looking in
Cole Palmer’s England saga has become one of the defining subplots of Tuchel’s reign.
At Chelsea, the 24-year-old is treated like a star. Five goals and three assists in all competitions already this season, with only team-mate Morgan Rogers boasting more direct goal involvements among the attacking players Palmer is jostling with for a Three Lions place.
On club form alone, Palmer has a compelling case. He plays, he produces, he decides games.
But for England, the door remains only half open. Palmer pulled out of the most recent extended three-week camp after being left out of the World Cup squad, a snub that clearly stung. Tuchel then sharpened the focus with a pointed assessment: Palmer, he said, “misses too many opportunities to play for England”.
The numbers say one thing. The manager’s eye says another.
Penalties do pad Palmer’s tally more than some of his rivals, and Tuchel has never been one to judge purely off a stat sheet. Even so, England’s medical staff have checked in on the forward again as Tuchel weighs up whether to recall him for this window. He played 90 minutes for Chelsea against Brentford before the last internationals and started the first game after them, with Tuchel insisting he had been “playing with discomfort and pain”.
The checks are routine. The attention is not. Whatever Tuchel thinks of Palmer’s readiness, he clearly hasn’t written him off.
Whether that translates into a place in this squad remains one of the most charged questions around England right now.
Kane’s understudy: a Championship wildcard?
Behind Harry Kane, the landscape is far less certain.
Kane is the captain, the record goalscorer, the Ballon d’Or winner, the man who never wants to come off. He dominates the position and the conversation. Being his understudy is one of the toughest jobs in international football: you might train all week just to watch him play every minute.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been in and around the squad before and after the World Cup. He’s doing well at Leeds, but under Tuchel the chemistry hasn’t clicked. In the last window he played just 15 minutes across two substitute cameos. Trusted, but not fully.
Tuchel has already experimented by using Jude Bellingham as the back-up nine, a nod to the Real Madrid man’s versatility and presence. But with a shorter window and two high-level Nations League fixtures, the Germany coach in charge of England could look to the future instead.
Enter Will Lankshear.
The 21-year-old striker, another product of the Tottenham system, left Spurs for Middlesbrough in the summer for £20m. It looked ambitious at the time. It now looks like a bargain. Lankshear has exploded in the Championship, scoring 13 goals in 13 league games and 15 in all competitions, dragging Boro to the top of the table.
He only made his England Under-21 debut in the last international window – and scored. From U21 newcomer to senior squad contender in a matter of months would be a stunning rise, especially for a player not operating in the Premier League.
Tuchel knows about him. With a shortage of natural number nines across the age groups, Lankshear offers something rare: a pure centre-forward in form, brimming with confidence, unscarred by previous near-misses.
If Tuchel wants to make another of his “big calls”, this is the perfect stage.
Jordan Henderson: the comeback nobody saw coming
Jordan Henderson’s England story looked finished in Mexico.
During the World Cup, after the win over Mexico at the Azteca Stadium, the veteran midfielder tumbled over an advertising hoarding and broke his arm. At 36, that felt like the final, cruel twist in a long international career.
Instead, he has forced the door back open.
A move from Brentford to Chelsea, driven by the London club’s desire to add experience to a young squad, has given Henderson fresh life. Once fit again, he didn’t just reappear – he imposed himself. Five consecutive starts in midfield, two goals in a win over Bournemouth, and a level of control and intensity that surprised plenty who had quietly moved him into the “former England player” category.
He missed Chelsea’s win over Manchester United through injury, but his impact is clear. Inside the dressing room he remains popular and respected, a standard-setter as much as a starter.
His inclusion has long been one of the most divisive topics among England fans. Too safe? Too loyal? Too old? Those arguments will not vanish overnight. But Henderson is playing regularly, playing well, and doing it at the top level again.
If Tuchel writes his name back into the squad list, the backlash might not be as fierce as before. The debate, though, will never fully disappear with a figure like Henderson.
New blood: Jobe Bellingham and a fresh wave of hopefuls
The most intriguing part of any squad announcement is often the new names. This one is no different.
Jobe Bellingham’s inclusion provides the obvious headline. The younger brother of Jude, he steps into a camp where his surname already carries enormous weight. Tuchel has shown he’s not intimidated by reputations, but he is drawn to talent and mentality. Jobe’s rise earns him that first taste of senior international football and gives England another versatile, attacking midfielder for the future.
He is not alone in pushing the door.
At Everton, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has quietly turned himself into one of the Premier League’s most effective midfielders this season. Wearing the number 10 shirt, the 28-year-old has already turned down the Republic of Ireland to keep his England dream alive. Two goals and two assists in all competitions might not leap off the page, but his influence on Everton’s climb to seventh in the league has been significant. He links play, breaks lines, and carries the ball with conviction.
Then there is Josh King at Fulham. Just 19, he has already brushed the edge of the senior setup. King travelled to the US as part of England’s preparation squad before the World Cup, alongside Alex Scott, Ethan Nwaneri and Rio Ngumoha, a sign of how highly he is rated internally.
Tuchel admitted in his last news conference that King is close to a call-up. The midfielder has backed that up with strong performances for the England Under-21s, reinforcing the sense that his promotion is a matter of “when”, not “if”.
This is the layer of the squad that will shape England’s next cycle. Tuchel knows it. So do the players.
Ben White returns, arguments rage, and the spotlight stays on Tuchel
Amid the noise, one decision almost slips under the radar: Ben White is back.
The Arsenal defender’s return gives England another versatile option across the back line and reopens a door that had looked, if not locked, then certainly jammed. His inclusion underlines Tuchel’s willingness to revisit past calls and reward domestic form.
Around all of this, the conversation never stops. Fans are already split across familiar battle lines: Palmer in or out? Is Lankshear too big a gamble? Has Henderson really earned another shot? Should the door be opened wider for Championship standouts? Which of the youngsters should be fast-tracked?
Tuchel will front up at his news conference around 11:00, his decisions laid bare, his reasoning tested. The Nations League meetings with Croatia and Spain demand a squad that can compete now, but also one that hints at what England might become.
Between the established stars, the returning figures and the ambitious debutants, this squad does exactly that.
The only question is whether Tuchel’s big calls will drag England forward – or ignite a fresh round of scrutiny as the road to the next major tournament tightens.
