Thomas Tuchel decides to recall Jude Bellingham in key England squad

Thomas Tuchel has decided to give Jude Bellingham an England recall on Friday for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, the Guardian understands. The head coach sparked a major sideshow in October when he did not select Bellingham for the friendly with Wales and the qualifier against Latvia.

Bellingham was not in prime physical condition having returned to the Real Madrid squad after shoulder surgery only a couple of weeks before Tuchel’s announcement. It was nonetheless a bombshell call given Bellingham’s ability and status, with Tuchel doubling down on it when he said he might have excluded him even if he had been 100% fit.

Tuchel wanted to reward the players who ignited his tenure in September with the win over Serbia in Belgrade – plus the home victory over Andorra – when Bellingham was unavailable. He named the same initial squad, the injuries to Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke not withstanding, and the themes were faith and continuity; an attempt to build spirit and momentum. Inevitably, though, the move was interpreted as a slight on Bellingham, who had wanted and perhaps expected to be included.

The Bellingham situation has stalked Tuchel and it is the main story in advance of his squad announcement. England face Serbia at Wembley next Thursday and Albania in Tirana three days later, having guaranteed their place at the finals with six qualifying wins out of six.

The October camp featured convincing victories over Wales and Latvia and a part of the drama around Bellingham has taken in the notion of Tuchel holding his line about avoiding unenforced changes when things have gone well. Another detail is that there is only one more camp, next March, before Tuchel names his squad for the finals.

It feels as if Tuchel has made his point about what is important and Bellingham will be expected to embrace the collective; the competition that the manager has repeatedly said is on. Tuchel has plenty of options in the No 10 position on top of Bellingham – namely Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. Palmer is injured and Foden was overlooked in October.

There is an opinion in Spain that the Madrid manager, Xabi Alonso, brought Bellingham back into his starting XI too soon when he played him in the derby against Atlético on 27 September, which Real lost 5-2. Alonso promptly returned him to the bench for Madrid’s following two games which led into the October international window.

Bellingham worked during it to completely recover his fitness and he has since started each of Madrid’s five matches in all competitions, scoring in three of them including the 2-1 win over Barcelona on the Sunday before last when he was one of the best players on the pitch. There is the clear sense that he is back in the groove. Tuchel has not failed to notice.