Thomas Tuchel has given a first England call-up to Jobe Bellingham, admitting the midfielder’s older brother, Jude, had nagged him to do so, as he set up the prospect of their family dream being realised. Tuchel’s inclusion of the younger Bellingham for the Nations League ties against Croatia and Spain was further evidence of his shift away from the squad that served him well at the World Cup last summer and towards a fresh dynamic for the mission to win Euro 2028. The manager has named a 25-man group for the game against Croatia at Wembley on Thursday and the one against Spain in Madrid three days after; of the 22 outfield players, only 11 were at the World Cup.
Jobe Bellingham, the England Under-21s captain, has impressed for Borussia Dortmund this season and Jude is on record as saying how much it would mean if they could play together for their country, especially at a major tournament. I think that helps Jobe now in camp. And it will be beautiful for Jude to have his brother close.
Jude was always like: ‘Watch him, watch him, he’s good, he can make it.’ I would say: ‘Yeah, we are watching him.’ And we know, of course, [about him] from Lee Carsley [the under-21s manager].” Tuchel described Jobe as “maybe more a No 8 than a classic 6 and less of a 10”. He noted that with Myles Lewis-Skelly suspended against Croatia, Jobe’s chances of being involved were higher. It has been 19 years since Gary and Phil Neville were the last brothers to play together for England.
Tuchel accidentally referred to Jobe as “Jube” at one point, a slip that will doubtless be made by others, and said it was a special moment to break the news of the call-up to him on a video call. You never know as a coach!” More broadly, Tuchel looked reinvigorated after the success of the September/October camp when his team won three out of four Nations League ties to all but guarantee a place in the quarter-finals. Tuchel had been tense at the start of the get-together as he was assailed by the fallout from the World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina.
He made some ruthless decisions in September, discarding Noni Madueke, Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney from the squad he took to the World Cup. Dean Henderson, Dan Burn and Jordan Henderson, picked in the summer and fit again, have been left out, while Kobbie Mainoo and Nico O’Reilly, who is a managing an injury, were also not selected. He overlooked Cole Palmer and Phil Foden.
Missing through injury are Reece James, Tino Livramento, John Stones, Trevoh Chalobah, Alex Scott, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford. Tuchel has placed an emphasis on youth in his post-World Cup selections and he added Josh King to the squad on Friday. The 19-year-old attacking midfielder’s only previous involvement was at the pre-World Cup training camp in Florida.
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