Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham has a battle on his hands to secure an England starting place, as the competition for World Cup places hots up under the West Palm Beach sun.
Morgan Rogers got the nod ahead of Bellingham in World Cup qualifying - the Aston Villa man was the only England player to feature in each of the eight matches. The Real Madrid star featured in only four.
When asked whether Bellingham has a fight on his hands to be in the starting XI, Tuchel said "Yes, he has.
"He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters. These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are like 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them."
Bellingham out-performed his friend Rogers against New Zealand in Tampa, when each played 45 minutes in the No 10 role. Tuchel admits he has been impressed with what he has seen of the 22-year-old recently.
"He [Jude] looks good. He looks good in training. I think he is at the moment in a sweet spot because he has had his break and he has the hunger to be back on the pitch and after injury - this is normal. And he is so happy to be back on the pitch. You take everything in."
Tuchel again refused to say whether Bellingham was part of England's 'leadership group' - a key selection of senior players who meet separately from the main squad to talk through tactical approaches and other important matters with the head coach and his assistant, Anthony Barry. It is a structure Tuchel has stuck with, after it was first introduced by his predecessor, Sir Gareth Southgate.
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Bellingham wore the captain's armband for the first time, for the whole of the second half in Saturday's friendly win over New Zealand, but Tuchel said with a smile that was only because he was the player on the pitch at the time with the most international caps.
The England head coach has also revealed more details about how he sees the pecking order in the camp right now, with the opening World Cup against Croatia to come on June 17. It seems that in among the 26, there are three distinct groups in Tuchel's mind.
"We have 14 or 15 potential starters and then there is a special group…..and then there are guys who finish matches for us and get the energy right."
While the media and fans will be guessing which player falls into which category, Tuchel says he has already told the players individually, and that their status could change between now and the first match.
The news of Bellingham not being a guaranteed a start comes as Tuchel confirmed that Declan Rice will be the vice-captain for the Three Lions this summer.
The England head coach has consistently refused to reveal any details of his leadership group, and particularly whether Bellingham is a part of it. But he has now confirmed that he has told the players that when Harry Kane is not on the pitch, Rice will wear the captain's armband.
"I never talk about the leadership group," Tuchel says. "Declan is my vice-captain. We had this talk [with the squad] when Harry was not in camp with us."
Rice has captained England twice before. The first of those was against Belgium in 2024, ahead of his 50th cap. But he is further down the pecking order at Arsenal, with Martin Odegaard and England team-mate Bukayo Saka ahead of him.
Tuchel has also confirmed England will play a behind-closed-doors friendly against local side Miami United later this week, as they continue their preparations for the opening game against Croatia on June 17.
Against New Zealand, England had two entirely separate teams of 11 who played each half. But the Arsenal contingent of Rice, Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke have now joined the squad in their West Palm Beach camp, and Tuchel says he has yet to assess how many minutes they, and others, will play in the friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday.
"I think we will get bigger chunks of minutes because it's just the build-up," he explained. "Then we have six days after that to prepare for Croatia. I think we need some players to play 60-70 minutes.
"We have three training days, one more match behind closed doors to manage all the minutes. Because let's say someone plays 70 minutes against Costa Rica, someone else only plays 20. So this is not enough. Those players who only play 20 or 30 minutes will play in that next game again."
When asked about the competition for places, with at least two players competing in each of the positions, Tuchel has called for the "brotherhood" to come first.
"I think the players want to impress and they want to impress me. That's why we selected this group," he said.
"I feel they do it in a very complicit way. That's the spirit that we want to have and the spirit that we will need throughout the tournament.
"We don't want to have guys on the bench who are thinking 'he is doing bad, so I may have a chance'. So I don't think that they think that they play against each other, but they are happy to push. I think they can put it into perspective. They know that they haven't played together in some of them since November. Some of them come from holiday, restart the engines. Put it into perspective - everything is fine."
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Sources: Sky Sports
