FLORIDA, United States, June 8, 2026 – Thomas Tuchel says Jude Bellingham has a fight on his hands to feature in England’s starting line-up at the World Cup because he has “14 or 15 potential starters” in his squad.
The Real Madrid midfielder has only started four times since the German took over as England boss in January 2025, with a further three appearances off the bench.
Tuchel has instead preferred Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, who has featured in 12 of his 13 matches in charge and was the only player involved in each of England’s eight World Cup qualifying matches.
When asked if Bellingham has a fight on his hands to be in the starting XI, Tuchel told reporters: “Yes, he has.
“He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters.
“These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them.”
Bellingham missed just 29 minutes of England’s Euro 2024 campaign, starting all seven matches, but his fortunes have changed under Gareth Southgate’s replacement.
The 22-year-old missed two qualifying matches last September because of a shoulder injury but was overlooked for October’s international camp, including a qualifier against Latvia.
He returned to the squad in November but was forced to miss friendlies in March with a persistent hamstring issue.
His relationship with Tuchel has frequently come under scrutiny, with the manager describing Bellingham’s on-field behaviour during last June’s defeat by Senegal as “repulsive” – a remark Tuchel later apologised for.
In November, Tuchel said he would “review” Bellingham’s behaviour following his reaction to being substituted during a qualifier against Albania.
However, he was impressed with Bellingham’s performance in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand in Tampa, believing he has hit a “sweet spot” heading into the tournament.
Bellingham took the captain’s armband after coming on at half-time in the 1-0 win.
“You can see Jude has for sure the decisiveness and bite,” Tuchel said. “This is his key characteristic, but you can see that he comes from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch.
“He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season, the Champions League season and campaign for the championship in Spain, so this was very unfortunate for Real Madrid and for him personally.
“But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he’s fresh, he wants to play and he’s in top shape.”
