Thomas Tuchel certainly wasn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers with his decision omit several star names from his England World Cup squad.
While the likes of Dan Burn, Jordan Henderson and Ivan Toney earned surprise call-ups,some of England’s most recognisable players are putting their feet up this summer.
Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden, mainstays of the teams that regularly reached the latter stages of major tournaments under Gareth Southgate, have been left behind with the current Three Lions squadhaving a more workmanlike feel about it.
Tuchel was forced into making a late change on Tuesday when an injury to Tino Livramento ended the Newcastle defender’s campaign before it had even started.
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Trevoh Chalobah, who had been on standby, was promoted at the expense of several other viable candidates including Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire.
Explaining his decision, the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss said: ‘We called Trevoh Chalobah because then we free up Jarell Quansah as a full back on both sides and Djed Spece both sides as a full-back,’ said Tuchel.
‘So Trevoh comes as a centre-back alternative and gives us full coverage in the back four.’
While Chalobah’s versatility may well prove useful in the coming weeks, Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly could arguably have been a shrewder pick given his ability to play at full-back and in central midfielder.
The Hale End Academy graduate made a stunning breakthrough two seasons ago that culminated in him scoring on his senior England debut having been selected by Tuchel.
Last season, however, started indifferently to the extent whereby he had effectively been deemed surplus to requirements by Mikel Arteta following the signing of Piero Hincapie.
It subsequently emerged, however, that Lewis-Skelly had spent months being primed for a move into a central midfield role that he thrived in over the course of the run-in, while he also delivered a polished display in the Champions League final up against PSG’s elite midfield technicians.
That performance clearly left an impression on Goncalo Ramos and Pedro Mendes, two players who will hope to make an impact at the World Cup for Portugal.
Discussing the various merits of different teams, the pair were left stunned to learn that the teenager had failed to make Tuchel’s squad.
Speaking to Pedro Teixeira Da Mota’s YouTube channel, Ramos asked: ‘And so there’s no Lewis-Skelly?” Mendes replied: ‘No, no.’
The PSG forward was surprised and said: ‘No? Look, he’s not there either. No… strange. I thought he got the call-up.
‘He’s not in the midfield? Midfielders, look. I was pretty sure he was called up.’
Mendes said: ‘Ya, he’s not there either.’ Ramos said: ‘No and notice, not only is he not there, in the news of the guys who are out, he’s not there either!
‘He was not called up by the newspaper.’ Ramos added: ‘Like he was a starter for the Arsenal games, Premier League champion, and he plays at left-back.’