Why did Thomas Tuchel not pick Trent Alexander-Arnold for the World Cup?

As England progress at the World Cup their problems at right-back grow and the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold continues to be a talking point.

Tino Livramento left before a ball was kicked due to injury, replaced by centre-back Trevoh Chalobah, while Reece James and Jarell Quansah have suffered injuries since then.

With Djed Spence struggling at right-back against DR Congo on Wednesday and Declan Rice filling in late on, Alexander-Arnold was conspicuous by his absence.

The Real Madrid star did not make it into Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad for the World Cup, in fact he has barely featured under the German at all.

The 27-year-old has won just one of his 34 England caps under Tuchel’s stewardship, coming off the bench against Andorra in June last year.

Alexander-Arnold’s first season in Spain was not a good one for the club, but he has already racked up 35 appearances for Real Madrid after overcoming injury issues.

Tuchel has shown no faith in him, though, with the former Liverpool favourite not even making the 35-man squad he named for two friendlies in March.

The England boss explained at the time: ‘I know that it’s a tough decision for Trent. These tough decisions come with the job.

‘It is a sporting decision that we stick with Jarell Quansah, with Tino Livramento and with Djed Spence who all can play for us on the right full-back position.

‘I know it’s a tough one, I know it’s a big name, a huge talent with a big career but I feel that I know what Trent can give us and decided still to stick to the players who were in camp with us.’

Reece James was not named by Tuchel at the time as he was injured, but the Chelsea man came to the World Cup as first choice at right-back.

Tuchel was clear in his message in March, that he simply saw other right-backs as ahead of Alexander-Arnold in his personal pecking order.

In June last year, when the right-back was in Tuchel’s thoughts, the manager did speak out on what he thought Alexander-Arnold needed to improve on.

Basically, he said his defending was not good enough.

‘I can see that sometimes he relies heavily on his offensive contributions and gives not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort,’ Tuchel said last year.

‘This major impact that he had for Liverpool over so many years … if he wants to have this impact in the English national team then he has to take the defensive part very, very seriously.

‘Because when we are talking, especially about qualifying football and then tournament football, the one defensive error, the one moment where you are not 100 per cent awake, can be decisive. It can be the moment where you pack your suitcases and go home.’

Much has changed since the England team he was talking about in June 2025, but Tuchel did suggest Alexander-Arnold’s ‘character’ is an issue.

‘We built [in] a back three [against Albania and Latvia], with Kyle [Walker] or Reece James staying from the back four and having Myles [Lewis-Skelly] moving into midfield [from left-back]. From a 4-1 it became a 3-2 in possession.

‘That would not be ideal with Trent. It will not suit his strengths to be in the back three. It would suit his strengths from passing ability, passing range but it will be too deep and he would be in charge of recovery runs and being aggressive in the counter-pressing. That would just not suit his character. We need to find the role that suits him.’

It is clear that Tuchel has not found the role to suit him, but now many fans wish he was in the England squad ahead of the last 16 meeting with Mexico.

The Three Lions boss did not reference Alexander-Arnold specifically when he explained why he chose his World Cup squad, but did make a point about ‘team spirit’ and being ‘unselfish’.

‘From day one we were clear we were trying to build the best possible team, which is not necessarily the 26 most talented players,’ Tuchel said in May.

‘Teams win championships, and what we’re trying to achieve can only be achieved as a team. We have players ready and committed to the idea of team spirit and being unselfish.

‘We have specialists for different scenarios, when we’re leading, when we’re chasing a result. We have always said we want to be a strong set-piece team, so we have specialists for that, and we want to be a strong penalty team, we have specialists for that.’