No contact, no World Cup place? What went wrong for Alexander-Arnold?
Trent Alexander-Arnold's omission from Thomas Tuchel's largest England squad is the latest blow to his stop-start international career and casts huge doubt on his hopes of playing at the World Cup. Head coach Tuchel said on Friday he had "not yet" spoken to the 27-year-old about his exclusion, with the full-back now absent from four successive squads. Alexander-Arnold is back playing for Real Madrid after injury but is not in the 35-man group for the last international camp before Tuchel finalises his squad for this summer's tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
With Chelsea's Reece James - England's first-choice right-back under Tuchel - missing the friendly games against Uruguay and Japan on 27 and 31 March, many thought that Alexander-Arnold would be a near certainty to be included for the first time since June 2025. But despite playing for Real Madrid in the knockout stages of the Champions League and England stalwarts Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier being retired, the former Liverpool defender finds himself out of the squad with at least five other players in front of him. One final experiment?
Unpicking Tuchel's latest England squad Tuchel, who has made clear his love of the physical nature of English football alongside his want of a solid backline referenced Jarrell Quansah, Djed Spence and Tino Livramento as the players in front of Alexander-Arnold. And although predominately a centre-back, Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa played at right-back in the comfortable win over Wales in October and is an option there too. "A slightly different profile," Tuchel said when asked by BBC Sport about what the other players bring.
"It's not what Trent cannot offer us. I know very well what Trent can offer. "I suffered when he played against my teams with Liverpool.
I know very well about his strengths and what he can give. " Livramento played the second-half of Newcastle's 7-2 defeat by Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League tie on Wednesday, but he has already impressed the England boss. Tuchel is big on players having "credit" for what they have previously done for him and Livramento played in England's 5-0 away win against Serbia, arguably the most impressive performance since he took charge.