England: Tuchel insists it was a ‘purely sporting decision’ as he reveals reason behind Toney snub

England boss Thomas Tuchel insists it was a “purely sporting decision” to select Dominic Solanke over Ivan Toney in his first Three Lions squad.

The German, who was named the new England manager in October last year, announced his 26-man squad on Friday to face Albania and Latvia in their first World Cup qualifiers later this month.

There were a number of controversial calls, with the inclusion of Jordan Henderson particularly raising eyebrows, while some of Nottingham Forest’s stars from this season were overlooked.

Toney chose to leave Brentford and England for the riches of Saudi Arabia in the summer and has continued his goalscoring exploits in the Middle East.

The former Bees striker has scored 16 goals in 21 appearances for Al Ahli in the Saudi Pro League but Tottenham striker Solanke, who has seven Premier League goals this term, was still selected ahead of the 28-year-old.

On leaving out Toney, Tuchel said: “It will, I think, be important to go to see Ivan in the coming weeks, to watch a game live, maybe watch training live, to get a better feeling for him. He is on the list.”

The England boss added: “It was a purely sporting decision for Dominic in the end. It was nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, or if we don’t trust the league there. I had just much more evidence and observation live of the matches from Dominic so straight away I made that choice.

“With [Ollie] Watkins we had a decision to make because of inflammation on the patella tendon that just disturbs him too much, so it makes no sense to call him up.”

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Tuchel also insisted that Jack Grealish is still part of his plans for England going forward but warned him about how his behaviour off the pitch can be interpreted.

On Grealish, Tuchel continued: “I love Jack.

“I love everything about him – his personality, I love his quality, the guy has courage, he can take the heat, he is not affected if the Bernabeu whistles him.

“So is he a player who can be available and have an impact in our squad? Yes – 100 per cent. But lately he simply has no rhythm, and he knows that himself. I think Jack gets better and better the more minutes he plays. He has the character to be the glue in a team, it is easy for youngsters to attach to him.”

Tuchel was asked about images showing Grealish socialising in a pub in east Manchester a week ago, the England boss replied: “Of course, it’s not ideal if he is in the newspapers and out there in public, but it is maybe not just his fault.

“Everyone out there has a phone in his pocket, these guys are famous, this can happen. It’s not ideal, we want to have him more calm, but this is not the reason for not picking him.”