England: Lineker slams Tuchel for ‘insulting’ White decision amid ‘personal’ issue with Alexander-Arnold
Gary Lineker has hit out at England head coach Thomas Tuchel over his “insulting” decision to select Ben White over Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Tuchel has not been afraid to make brutal decisions as England boss and his latest saw him leave Real Madrid’s Alexander-Arnold out of his 35-man squad for this international break.
Alexander-Arnold has not had the best of debut seasons at Real Madrid, but with Reece James injured, he would have expected to be named in Tuchel’s latest England squad.
However, Tuchel instead selected Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento and Arsenal’s White. The latter player had for England since 2022 following a fallout with former assistant Steve Holland and has only been a bit-part player for his club this season.
Several pundits have spoken out against Tuchel’s decision on Alexander-Arnold, and Lineker has explained why he thinks the head coach has a “personal” issue with the right-back.
“You obviously know I’m a big admirer of Trent,” Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast.
READ: ‘Typical England’ flatter to deceive – so why can’t they reproduce club form for the Three Lions?
“I think there’s something personal, because football-wise, there’s no argument. I can’t see how he can not be in that squad because he has to improve your chances, even if it’s from the bench.
“So I suspect there’s something that Tuchel does not like about Trent Alexander-Arnold, I’d just be guessing in terms of what it might be, whether it’s his attitude or he thinks he’s not brilliant defensively.
“There has to be something in that because it makes absolutely no sense. You’ve got players playing in his position, with all due respect, that are not in the same league as him, certainly with the ball at his feet.
“As you saw in these kind of games, you need someone with a bit of magic to unlock things, and he will provide you that. So it doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t know whether it’s his attitude or what it is. I don’t know.”
READ MORE: England vs Japan predictions, team news, lineups and odds
On Ben White being preferred, Lineker added: “But I find it quite insulting looking at the players he’s brought in. We talk about the Ben White situation, for example, and he’s not wanted to play for England before.
“Now I wouldn’t judge him on that because we don’t really know what’s happened in the camp before and his reasons for not playing. That’s all fine but I can’t see how he can still be ahead of Trent, I think that’s really insulting to a seriously top full-back. That’s my view.”
David Beckham also thinks Tuchel was wrong to snub Alexander-Arnold.
On Alexander-Arnold’s omission, Beckham said on talkSPORT: “I’ve heard so many times over the years when he was at Liverpool, when he’s at Madrid, when he’s playing for England, about, ‘Well, he’s not as good at defending as he is (attacking)’.
“Well, sometimes you have to accept that… Roberto Carlos was an unbelievable defender, but he was also unbelievable going forward.
“He’d always go forward, and then we’d have to cover him, so those kind of things you expect. But with Trent, would I take him? I’d find it very hard not to take someone like Trent.”
READ NEXT: Ben White joins Three Lions legends among 10 stars booed by England fans
