An important reason why Sporten.com expert panel does not have England as favourites for next summer’s World Cup is national team manager Thomas Tuchel. England, just like Norway, have gone through the qualification without losing a point, but they have only faced countries that can hardly field a professional team.
Thomas Tuchel has made his feelings clear about a potential recall of Mason Greenwood to the England national team. Greenwood now plays club football for Ligue 1 side Marseille. – Greenwood was in the starting line-up in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Champions League at the Orange Vélodrome.
England boss Thomas Tuchel has made his feelings clear about a potential recall for Marseille striker Mason Greenwood.
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Greenwood, 24 years old, will face an English team for the first time since being sold by Manchester United, when Marseille host Newcastle in the Champions League on Tuesday.
United approved his departure, initially on loan to Spanish club Getafe, in 2023 after an internal review of his behaviour, before selling him to Marseille the following summer.
Greenwood has not played for England since he got his only cap in 2020, nor has he been named in any Three Lions squad.
Former England manager Gareth Southgate categorically stated before Euro 2024 that he would not pick Greenwood, who has scored 12 goals across all competitions so far this season, for the tournament.
Addressing his situation after that, he added, “I need to know more details about the whole case before it was an option.”
Tuchel took over from Southgate in January 2025 following Lee Carsley’s interim spell, and he was asked about Greenwood after selecting his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania in September.
The German said that he had not made contact with the former Manchester United attacker and that he was ‘not in his mind’ to be selected.
“I haven’t spoken to him until now. I have neither spoken to him nor his camp,” Tuchel said.
“My understanding was that he is trying to play for Jamaica, so we didn’t give it another thought. He was not in consideration at the moment, and he is not in our thoughts for our team.”
Greenwood was expected to switch international affiliations to Jamaica before the end of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
He is of Jamaican descent and obtained a Jamaican passport earlier this year.
Steve McClaren, who resigned as Jamaica’s boss after they failed to qualify for the World Cup earlier this month, stated in September that Greenwood had refused to commit to any national team ‘at this time’ after discussions with his family.
In January 2022, he was suspended by United after he was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault.
In October of the same year, he was charged with attempted rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behavior, and assault causing actual bodily harm.
The charges were dropped in February 2023 by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which stated that ‘a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant that there was no longer a realistic possibility of conviction’.
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