England squad announcement LIVE: Ivan Toney recalled as Thomas Tuchel names gamers for June internationals
With the domestic season coming to a close this weekend focus shifts to the next round of international football with England manager Thomas Tuchel naming his squad for June’s international fixtures later today.
Tuchel has overseen two wins from two since taking charge of the Three Lions at the start of the year and England sit top of Group K in Europe’s World Cup qualifiers. They defeated Albania 2-0 and Latvia 3-0 during Tuchel’s first camp with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Eberechi Eze and Harry Kane in particular impressing the German coach.
The next camp is preparing to face Andorra, who have lost both of their qualifiers so far, before an international friendly against Senegal which should prove to be a sterner test for Tuchel’s charges.
Phil Foden looks set to miss out on a place in the squad while he recovers from an ankle injury and it remains to be seen if Tuchel will persist with Marcus Rashford who has been sidelined with a hamstring problem.
We’ll have all the updates from Tuchel’s squad announcement and press conference with our live blog below:
England men’s squad to face Andorra and Senegal
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Burnley)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Kyle Walker (AC Milan, loan from Manchester City)
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Conor Gallagher (Atletico Madrid), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
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That’s everything from us today on Thomas Tuchel’s England squad announcement.
There’ll be a full analysis piece to come but our coverage of Tuchel’s press conference is now done.
You can see the full details of the squad above.
Thomas Tuchel explains decision to recall Ivan Toney to England squad to face Andorra and Senegal
Thomas Tuchel insists he has recalled Ivan Toney to his England squad to “see his personality and his quality” up close ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Andorra and friendly against Senegal.
The Three Lions boss has shuffled his squad, making seven changes from the group that beat Albania and Latvia, and Toney’s return has seen forward Dominic Solanke drop out following Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League victory on Wednesday.
‘Tuchel on good form, the enthusiasm is there’
Tuchel on good form today and seemingly with a plethora of issues, both good, well, mostly good and some bad in terms of the condition of his players.
Phil Foden, Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton are all dealing with some issues, but the enthusiasm, as you would expect in just his second camp, is there.
The key to these camps and the short run-up for him, relatively, given his appointment only for the World Cup, is to settle on a style of play with the testing conditions expected next summer with the heat and humidity. Andorra and Senegal might offer a glimpse at how Tuchel’s England plan to approach teams, regardless of the quality.
The profile of the squad, too, perhaps hints as much? The strikers are all in the latter stages of their careers, while Jordan Henderson remains a pivotal part of the midfield, despite his age.
Questions remain over Henderson selection
Jordan Henderson is 35 years old now and there will be some England fans questioning why he is in the squad ahead of promising youngsters like Adam Wharton.
Thomas Tuchel addressed those frustrations by saying: “I can understand it but once you meet Jordan and speak to him it is such an obvious choice.
“Maybe your perception seems far away from mine but I can understand the question. It is not Adam Wharton versus Jordan Henderson.
“What Jordan brings to the group an under-21 player cannot bring. It is just impossible from personality and experience.
“Jordan is also more than happy to accept the challenge and he wants no gifts and presents.”
England boss Thomas Tuchel on Jordan Henderson being picked:
“If we have a training exercise with different groups and you have a group with Jordan you can turn your back you don’t need to watch,” said Tuchel.
“He will take care of all the standards in the group. It may be a possession game, a passing exercise, maybe the warm up but you don’t need to take care of this group because Jordan takes care of it.
“He sets the standards. He is a natural leader and the others follow. That is why he is with us.
“He is doing this in an impressive way and still playing at a decent level. That is why there was not a thought to drop him.”
Tuchel on players involved in Under-21s:
“This is the last chance for them to be picked in the Under-21s. From September they fight for a place in the national team and fight against big, big players. They will emrbace playing the Euros with the Under-21s, that is what we want for them, to take a big responsibility.
“Newcastle won the Carabao Cup, Palace won the FA Cup and Spurs won the Europa League so a lot of players for them were involved in winning titles who are not used to winning titles so it is a big boost for us because they showed they had a winning mentality and they can bring it over the line no matter what.
“Being with the Under-21s will play a huge part in their development.”
Is England’s left side a concern for Tuchel?
“Not a concern because we love Myles Lewis-Skelly,” the England boss said.
“We have Reece James who can play on the left side. Tino Livramento would have been a natural choice but we decided he play for the Under-21s. Not concerned. [Nico] O’Reilly for Manchester City lately plays this position.
“Players will come and players will show up. Luke Shaw was involved in the last matches and hopefully coming back to a best version of himself.
“Always we will find a solution.”
‘Chalobah is ahead of Maguire’
“He is always in my thoughts because he covers the position as a central defender but also as a number nine, as you know,” Tuchel said when asked about why Harry Maguire isn’t in the squad.
“He is always a big threat from set pieces and he is a big personality and he steps up in difficult times as you can see in his club.
“At the moment Ezri Konsa keeps his place, Dan Burn has a left foot and keeps his place. We say at the moment Trevoh Chalobah a little bit ahead of Harry.
“I have a very clear picture of Harry and what he represents and what he can bring to a squad.
“I am not so clear how Trevoh will be in this enviroment and performance wise at the moment he is a ltitle bit ahead. He is involved in fighting for Champions League football.”
Why did Adam Wharton miss out?
England boss Thomas Tuchel spoke about midfielders like Adam Wharton missing out and said: “We had Adam Wharton train with us in the last camp. He was with the Under 21s but trained with us and was very, very good.
“At the moment there is a little injury problem – a concussion protocol going on from the FA Cup final.
“Together with Tino Livramento, Jarell Quansah, Elliott Anderson and Liam Delap – all names who could play a role for us but a major tournament comes up for the Under-21s and the intention is they play a big part in this tournament.
“I like it a lot that they have chances to be leaders in this group, to be players we hopefully will rely on. We will monitor them closely but we decided that with these players they take the responsibility for the Under-21s.
