Thomas Tuchel reveals reasons behind excluding Phil Foden from latest England squad | OneFootball

Phil Foden has been excluded from the latest England squad selection by manager Thomas Tuchel, who has now opened up on the decision made.

The development comes off the back of a hugely difficult season from a personal perspective for Phil Foden, who has struggled to continue from where he left off in a historic campaign last year when individual accolades came in their numbers for the midfielder.

Having largely inspired his Manchester City teammates to a record-breaking fourth consecutive Premier League title during the 2023/24 season, Foden was handed awards such as the Premier League and FWA’s Player of the Year for his efforts.

However, amid a mixture of fitness and injury problems, off-field personal matters, and poor form when called-upon, Foden has played a significantly reduced role in Manchester City’s now-concluded campaign.

And having recently admitted a need to rest both mentally and physically over the summer months in order to get back to his best, Phil Foden has now been granted part of that wish on the international stage.

Speaking to talkSPORT having finalised his latest England call-ups, manager Thomas Tuchel has gone into great detail around the reasons that ultimately led to Foden being left out of the Three Lions squad that follows the Premier League campaign.

“For Phil it is a little bit different because Phil had a difficult time since last camp. I loved Phil as a person in camp, he was fantastic. I love his talent and the ability that he showed in training with us. He was simply outstanding, there is no doubt about it,” Tuchel said.

“He struggled even before last camp to show it in the club. He struggled within camp to feel the freedom and the excitement that is part of his game. Things were not so easy for him,” he added.

“They became a bit more complicated after the Manchester derby and on a personal level what happened in the Manchester derby with the fans and then also on a physical level that he is still suffering from ankle problems, cannot get rid of that.”

The German tactician continued, “So putting it all in the mix we thought it better, it is the moment now for Phil to take a breath, to not be with us, which was also a very hard call because I admire him a lot and I like him a lot.

“But we thought it is better he takes care about his ankle, gets fully pain free and has no reason for holding back and be fit for the Club World Cup. So it was a mix for Phil between injury and performance wise.”

For now, it remains to be seen whether Manchester City will follow the lead taken by England and allow Foden to miss this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup too with an interest in enabling further rest ahead of the restart of the season in August.

Pep Guardiola and his players are due to reconvene at the City Football Academy in around two weeks time following international commitments and short holidays for players, before jetting out to the United States for what is initially due to be a three-game experience.

Should City progress past the challenge of Wydad AC, Juventus, and Al Ain in the group stage format of the competition, then they will progress into the knockout stage of the maiden version of the revamped and expanded global club competition.