One of the biggest talking points of the international break was England manager Thomas Tuchel’s decision to leave Real Madrid star Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the squad despite being fit. He was left out of the preliminary squad and even when Jarell Quansah got injured, the Los Blancos man did not get the nod.
The German tactician has admitted he may have been unfair to Trent Alexander-Arnold, and from a Real Madrid perspective, that is the line that immediately stands out. For a player of Trent’s quality and status, hearing the England manager publicly acknowledge the possibility of an unjust decision is quite telling.
As quoted by Mundo Deportivo, he said:
“It is just one decision. Maybe a difficult choice and perhaps, to a certain extent, even an unfair one. I know what Trent can give us. When you leave a player like him out, it creates noise. We had a call, I explained the situation and he has to accept it.”
That is a huge admission. Managers usually defend selection calls with rigid certainty, but Tuchel effectively accepted that this one could be seen as harsh even from his own side. He then added:
“The choice was for White because I saw him play in the League Cup final and in the Champions League match and he looked like himself again. It was an opportunity to get to know him in person. The option was for him, for Livramento and Spence. I decided to choose the players who were with us in the September, October and November squads.”
When fit and in form, Reece James may be England’s best option at right-back but Trent Alexander-Arnold definitely belongs in the upper echelon of whatever comes after. The Real Madrid defender deserved a place in the squad. Right now, his World Cup chances don’t look great but let’s wait and see how things play out.
