Predicting six England stars to be snubbed by Thomas Tuchel after making Lee Carsley’s final squad
Lee Carsley’s withdrawal-impacted final England squad was much-changed and littered with U21 all-stars, so who will drop out when Thomas Tuchel takes over?
James Trafford (Burnley)
Trafford was always likely to be fancied by Carsley as the goalkeeper’s heroics heavily contributed to his side winning last year’s U21 European Championships.
The 22-year-old’s performances in this tournament – and his form on loan at League One Bolton to a lesser extent – earned him a £15m move to newly-promoted Burnley from Manchester City last season.
Hindsight is 20:20 and it seems this big move came too soon for Trafford as the inexperienced and frail keeper was somewhat found out in the Premier League last season.
Despite this, Trafford remains highly rated and has played the full 90 minutes in all but one of Burnley’s Championship games this season. He definitely has a role to play for England in the future, but he’ll likely drop out for a returning Aaron Ramsdale or Nick Pope when Tuchel names his first squad next March.
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Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton)
The immense performances of Marc Guehi at Euro 2024 covered the evident cracks in England’s centre-back department, but they remain short of quality options in this area of the pitch.
This has been further exposed by the absence of John Stones, Harry Maguire, Levi Colwill and Jarrad Branthwaite for this international break. Carsley had to call up Harwood-Bellis, who would *actually* be at the rear end of England’s list of preferred centre-backs when everyone is fit.
Capped 26 times at U21 level, Harwood-Bellis – who also progressed through Man City’s academy – has long been touted as a regular England international in the making. However, this season has been a rude awakening for the 22-year-old.
Russell Martin’s naive Vincent Kompany-esque obsession with his playing style has made Southampton far too easy to play against and Harwood-Bellis has not even been an undisputed starter. This is the first senior England squad he’s been in and it’ll be a while until he’s back in the fold.
Tino Livramento (Newcastle United)
Talented right-back Livramento is far more deserving of his place in this squad and two long-term options for England at full-back could be on the books of Newcastle.
The £32m defender has overcome his injury issues to usurp Kieran Trippier in the pecking order at Newcastle and England. He was previously purely renowned for his attacking threat, but he’s maturing into a rounded full-back.
England are nowhere near as spoiled for choice at right-back as they once were as almost past-it pair Trippier and Kyle Walker are declining, while Reece James cannot stay fit for toffee.
Livramento is clearly the next man up at right-back and will eventually take Walker’s place. But when March rolls around, Tuchel is more likely to select the ageing Man City star and an injury-free Trent Alexander-Arnold.
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Jarell Quansah (Liverpool)
Similarly to Harwood-Bellis, Quansah is a beneficiary of England’s ongoing injury crisis and is even further down the pecking order as he was called up to replace Branthwaite when the Everton starlet dropped out.
Heading into this campaign, Quansah had been expected to kick on after he was a breakout star in Jurgen Klopp’s farewell season. Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, this campaign has quickly descended into disaster territory.
Quansah – largely thanks to the immense form of Ibrahima Konate – has not recovered since being hooked at half-time by Arne Slot in Liverpool’s opening day win at Ipswich Town. He’s also been in the headlines for the wrong reasons as it’s been exposed that he’s a horny young man.
You’d hope Quansah can learn from this rough patch and his future post-Virgil van Dijk could be as a Liverpool starter alongside Konate. For now, he must rely on an injury crisis to get an England call.
READ: Five in-form England hopefuls who STILL can’t get a call-up in dire straits
Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United)
There was a genuine fear when Julen Lopetegui took over at West Ham that the pragmatic head coach was too similar to David Moyes. This has been a contributing factor as the Spaniard – who is already a frontrunner to be the next Premier League manager sacked – has failed to get a chord out of his talented squad.
The Hammers looked devoid of ideas in their dour goalless draw against Everton, but Bowen remains a standout and has grabbed five goal involvements in his eleven Premier League outings this season.
Bowen impressed when allowed to shine at Euro 2024, but Noni Madueke’s sparkling performance against Greece leaves the Chelsea star ahead of the Hammer in England’s thinking and the in-form 22-year-old should be Tuchel’s backup to Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka on the right flank.
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
Rogers has been bloody brilliant for Aston Villa this season and the Premier League standout is proof that stats are not everything.
From a nondescript signing from Middlesbrough, Rogers has developed rapidly and has looked equally at home in the Premier League and Champions League.
Rogers is good enough to be in the squad of most nations, but England are particularly stacked in the attacking department and he’ll do well to remain in the fold when Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Jack Grealish are back from ‘injury’.
A lot can change between now and March, but Rogers would likely be on the periphery of the squad if Carsley wasn’t dealing with an injury crisis.
The clamour for the Villa star was growing before this break and Tuchel could receive backlash if he sides with more established names. At least this criticism would be justified after he was wrongly blamed for the recent wave of withdrawals.
