‘Insulting’ – Gary Lineker claims Thomas Tuchel has ‘personal’ issue with England star

Gary Lineker insists that Thomas Tuchel must have a “personal” issue with Trent Alexander-Arnold to leave him out of his England squad.

Tuchel claimed it was the “last chance” for players to book their spot on the plane to the World Cup after announcing his 35-man squad for March friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

Real Madrid right-back Alexander-Arnold was not included in the initial squad and faced a second snub as Arsenal defender Ben White was called up after Bayer Leverkusen star Jarell Quansah had to pull out of the squad.

And Lineker thinks England boss Tuchel must have a “personal” problem with Alexander-Arnold after leaving him out of the squad.

Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast: “You obviously know I’m a big admirer of Trent. 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.

READ: Ben White joins Three Lions legends among 10 stars booed by England fans

“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.

“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.

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“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.”

Many England fans booed White, who scored his first Three Lions goal, during the match against Uruguay and Jordan Henderson has vowed to protect the Arsenal star.

Henderson said after the match: “As team-mates we are always there to support. I have been through it myself, but that is part and parcel of being an England player.

“Some of the fans probably don’t even know why they are booing, they listen to what is being said in the media, and a lot of the time what the media says isn’t true.

“Not many people know the ins and outs of what happened in Qatar and it is for us to deal with internally. Ben has been good since he came back in and we will support him as team-mates.”