Roll back two years and the prospect of Jude Bellingham being left out of the England starting XI at the World Cup would have had you laughed out of the room.
The former Birmingham City youngster had just completed his first season at Real Madrid following a £115million move from Borussia Dortmund, scoring 23 goals as Los Blancos sealed a La Liga and Champions League double.
Things haven’t been quite as rosy leading into this summer. A season partly disrupted by injury and general chaos at the Bernabeu has not been ideal preparation. He has started just four of England’s eight World Cup qualifying matches under Thomas Tuchel and while some of those were enforced due to injury, the German’s personal preference has also been a factor.
Morgan Rogers started all eight of those games and appeared to have moved ahead of Bellingham in the pecking order. But with England’s Group L opener against Croatia now looming large, there are suggestions Bellingham has done enough to wrestle back his starting spot.
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Bellingham and Rogers are childhood friends now at the centre of perhaps England’s most important selection decision and Tuchel has been happy to foster that healthy and very friendly rivalry within the camp. So who has the edge?
What England’s warm-up games told us
England were put through their paces in warm-up games against New Zealand and Costa Rica before a final run-out for those who needed minutes in a behind-closed-doors game against local side Miami FC.
Tellingly, Tuchel was full of praise for Bellingham’s work off the ball against Costa Rica and the 22-year-old wore the captain’s armband when Harry Kane was not on the pitch.
Bellingham’s relationship with Tuchel was the subject of some debate last November with the England boss laying down the law after his midfielder expressed frustration with being subbed off in a win over Albania. But there has been no sign of strain State-side.
Tuchel will rotate his no10s – ‘it’s horses for courses’
If England are to go all the way and end 60 years of hurt, they will have to navigate their way through nine games in testing conditions. They will travel an estimated 5,000 miles for the group stages alone, with that tally possibly rising to over 12,000 should they make it to the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 19 July.
Rotation will likely have a bigger role to play than ever before in this expanded edition with former Manchester City and England star Micah Richards believing Tuchel will turn to both men in different situations.
‘I think Tuchel will chop and change. It depends on the state of the game,’ Richards told Metro.
‘If it is a high intensity game, you go with Rogers. If you want to press high, I would go with him and Anthony Gordon on the left. If it’s a game where England are going to have more of the ball, I would play with Bellingham with Marcus Rashford on the left. They all offer something different but have quality.’
Tuchel not afraid to drop Bellingham
Tuchel has already demonstrated he won’t hide away from difficult decisions with Harry Maguire, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden among those left at home. Talk ahead of Wednesday’s game has suggested Marc Guehi could be a surprising omission from the starting XI against Croatia with former England striker Emile Heskey warning no one is untouchable.
‘I think Tuchel has shown everyone’s position is up for grabs,’ Heskey said. ‘Foden wasn’t untouchable. Cole Palmer wasn’t untouchable. He has looked at it for what it is and what he needs and is going by that, not the noise that comes with it.’
Will they play together?
There could of course be a clamour to get both of them in the team, particularly if England do struggle against a low block in energy-sapping conditions. Rogers offers an option on the left if Tuchel doesn’t get enough from Gordon or Rashford while a deeper midfield role for Bellingham is also a possibility.’
‘It’s not an either or situation, they could honestly play together in this competition,’ Richards said.
‘I don’t understand why people say Bellingham can only be a no10. He can play as no10, he could play deeper with Rice or Anderson.
‘We can all see when it comes to pressing, Rogers can be amazing in that role playing in behind Kane. Bellingham’s timing and runs into the box are so good. We have seen Rogers come in off the left or right for Villa, he plays narrow so he could play there for England with Bellingham as a 10. It’s a nice problem to have.’