England manager Thomas Tuchel has played down any talk of tension after leaving Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for next week’s games against Wales and Latvia.

Bellingham, who recently returned from a shoulder injury, has been unable to force his way back into the Three Lions fold despite making one start for Real Madrid.

Foden and Grealish, meanwhile, also miss out despite showing improved form with Manchester City and Everton.

Speaking about Bellingham’s situation, Thomas Tuchel admitted the midfielder had pushed for a recall. “He is a special player, and for special players there can always be special rules,” the coach said.

“But we decided to stick with the straightforward decision of inviting the same group. Jude always deserves to be here. There is also the situation that he has not quite gathered his full rhythm again at Real Madrid, he has not finished a full match. He wanted to be called up. We had a phone call.”

Tuchel was keen to stress there is no bad blood, despite having previously apologised for describing Bellingham’s on-field behaviour as “repulsive” earlier in the year.

“No,” he said when asked if there was a problem. “There is also no problem with Phil Foden or Jack Grealish either. Phil is back influencing and deciding games for Manchester City. Jack is very close to being back to the best version of himself. There is no personal problem.”

Naija News reports that the only change from last month’s squad is Bukayo Saka’s return in place of the injured Noni Madueke.

Note that England face Wales in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before travelling to Riga for a crucial World Cup qualifier against Latvia on 14 October.

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