Thomas Tuchel has included Marcus Rashford in his first England squad to capitalise on the forward’s upsurge in form at Aston Villa and try to ensure he does not fall back into the bad habits that undermined his game at Manchester United.
The England manager’s other headline selection for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley was the recall of Jordan Henderson, whom he described as a “big part of the puzzle” for the campaign.
Tuchel has given debut call-ups to Myles Lewis-Skelly and Dan Burn and also picked Jarell Quansah, Reece James and Morgan Rogers. Henderson’s involvement has effectively squeezed out Conor Gallagher, Angel Gomes and Adam Wharton. There was no room for Jack Grealish and Ben White, although Tuchel said the latter was open to an international return after his self-imposed exile.
Rashford endured a frustrating 18-month period at United, his form nose-diving and prompting him last month to go on loan to Villa, where he has shown flashes of his old self. Tuchel offered insight into his man-management when he said he could easily have waited before calling up Rashford, maybe until the June international break, and the player would have been fine with it. But that would have been to miss the opportunity to boost him now.
“I had the feeling that we need to reward him now, we need to feel him, he needs to be close to me, that he does not fall back into old routines,” Tuchel said. “He stepped up his game impressively [at Villa] against the ball. This is the most important point for him – the intensity after ball loss. The tracking back on the side. The sprinting. The hunting down. Making sure you’re in position.
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Southampton), James Trafford (Burnley).
Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (Milan, on loan from Manchester City).
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa).
Forward: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Aston Villa, on loan from Manchester United), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur).
“That he can bully defenders, we know all that … we forgot a little bit about it but we know it. He is a complete package. But at the same time, we want to make sure that he stays on track.”
Rashford won his most recent cap, his 60th, last March and Henderson has not played for England since November 2023. The midfielder took the ill-fated decision to go to Saudi Arabia in the summer of that year and although he moved to Ajax in January 2024, he found himself on the outside looking in when it came to England.
Tuchel is convinced Henderson can still perform at the age of 34, saying he does not “see a slower version or an older version of him”. Moreover, there are Henderson’s leadership skills, his ability to help the talent around him grow.
“I’m not so sure we need 23 outfield players in the World Cup and every one of these players needs to have the intention to be a starter,” Tuchel said. “Once we go to the World Cup we need to identify clearly the roles. We will have a core team who are eager to be starters. We will have a support team, as well. We will have a team who is happy to end matches for us. We will have a group of players who are happy to take care of the values of the team, of the language, of the laughter, the pressure, the intensity, the seriousness.”
Tuchel was asked whether he was aware that Henderson had missed the second leg of Ajax’s Europa League exit against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday after being booked in the first leg for swearing at the referee. “I was not aware of that … I thought only Jude [Bellingham] is doing that,” he replied, referring to Bellingham’s red card in Real Madrid’s draw against Osasuna in February.
Tuchel plans to go to Saudi Arabia to watch Ivan Toney and the striker’s exclusion was not because he played there. With Ollie Watkins nursing a knee problem and needing to sit it out, Tuchel simply preferred Dominic Solanke to Toney. Also injured are, among others, Trent Alexander-Arnold, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Lewis Hall, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke.
Tuchel spoke about how he wanted to build a spirit of “brotherhood” in the squad and his determination not to copy the leading nation of the moment but to play with a distinctive Premier League style.
“We should be proud enough of the culture and style of English football and the English league to implement this style,” he said. “We have to increase the intensity in our games, the rhythm. I want to have more touches in the opponents’ box. I want to have more ball recoveries in the opponents’ half. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t play a high press in the next matches. It’s our job to make it quickly understandable and still give the players the freedom to express themselves.”
On Grealish, who has been in and out of the Manchester City team and in the headlines for his off-the-field behaviour, Tuchel said: “I love Jack. I love everything about him. But lately, he simply has no rhythm. He and I agree 100% with this. He said: ‘Listen Thomas, I’m not a start-stop player. It is so hard for me to influence a match from the bench and then be on the bench again and then two weeks later I start again.’ It’s just a characteristic of Jack. The more he plays the better he gets and then he becomes a proper machine.
“It’s not ideal that he’s in the newspapers and out there in public. We want to have him more calm. No one wants to have this. But this was not the reason for not picking him.”
