Daily Mail Sport’s distinguished readers have backed Thomas Tuchel’s decision to axe Jude Bellingham from his England squad.
Tuchel has excluded the Real Madrid star from his camp for the upcoming friendly against Wales and World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
Bellingham missed the last international break because he was recovering from shoulder surgery but he has a clean bill of health this time round.
And Tuchel has sent a strong message to the 22-year-old after claiming that the ‘teamwork’ and ‘team spirit’ were at their peak in the last camp without him.
Earlier this year, Tuchel told talkSPORT that his mother found Bellingham’s rage ‘repulsive’ and that he needed to ‘channel’ his ‘fire’ better. He has since apologised for that comment.
And our discerning readership has come down on German coach’s side, with a whopping 83 per cent agreeing with him in a recent poll of more than 13,500 Mail fanatics.
Daily Mail Sport’s readers have backed Thomas Tuchel’s decision to axe Jude Bellingham
Bellingham only made his return recently after having shoulder surgery over the summer
Explaining Bellingham’s absence, Tuchel said: ‘The last camp was only three and a half weeks ago. Teamwork, team spirit were at the highest level so far.
‘That’s why we decided to invite the same group into this camp, to make more stable what we started to build.
‘Are there players out there who deserve to be with us? Yes, for sure. Is there a way back into the team through performance? 100 per cent.
‘We think this is the best and most straightforward position. The competition is on to be in the squad and to make it onto the pitch.
‘I understand your focus on Jude [Bellingham]; he is a very special player, and for special players, there are special rules.
‘But for this camp we decided to stick with out decision to invite the same team, that also applies to Jude. He always deserves to be in camp.
‘There is also the situation that he hasn’t gathered his full rhythm for Real Madrid. He hasn’t finished one full match until now; he has only started one now.
‘He is getting back to full strength. We had a phone call. There is no issue from that side, he just lacks rhythm.’
Tuchel said that Bellingham needs to better ‘channel’ his ‘fire’ for England earlier this year
Does he have a problem with the midfielder? ‘No. There is also no problem with Phil Foden or Jack Grealish either [who were also excluded].’
Bellingham has only started one game this campaign, and that was the 5-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid – their heaviest derby loss in 75 years.
He only made his return from his rehabilitation against Espanyol last month (for one minute at the end of the game) and has been noted as being off the pace by the Spanish press.
There is little doubt that Bellingham is one of the best talents England have produced in recent times.
But the Golden Generation taught us that pure talent is not all that maters and Tuchel has had the conviction to try something different.
Bellingham was widely regarded as having struggled at Euro 2024 despite scoring pivotal goals against Serbia in the group stages and Slovakia the last 16.
