‘It was very close’ – Thomas Tuchel explains why Crystal Palace star missed out on senior England squad

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Thomas Tuchel named his first senior England men’s squad this morning with a trio of Crystal Palace players included for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers at Wembley later this month against Albania and Latvia.

Ebere Eze, Dean Henderson and Marc Guehi were all given the nod by the former Chelsea manager, but fellow Eagle Adam Wharton was named in the U21 side rather than seeing a repeat senior selection, following his European Championship squad place last summer.

Instead, there was a recall for 34-year-old Jordan Henderson, who last played for his country in November 2023.

“It was very close to bringing Adam in,” explained Tuchel to talkSPORT.

“Adam has come back from a long injury and has lately got his place back in the team, had minutes and played very impressively. We can clearly see, I can clearly see, the potential that he has. He’s looking for key passes. He’s bypassing opponents. He’s always thinking up front. He’s a good passer, a very strategic player.

“We decided to not pick him because we have the chance that he trains with us (in the senior squad) in the first days (at St. George’s Park). In the end, we said we’d give him the chance to play U21s, give him the chance to be in our training in the first days and we go from there. Adam is in exactly this mix of thoughts and decisions.

“Jordan brings something to the group that is, for me, vital when we want to build a strong group; experience, leadership, personality and character that is something that would even guide Adam, so it would be, maybe ideal, to have nominated both of them, but at the same time, we decided to nominate a bit a bigger goalkeeper group with four goalkeepers.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD