Some of England's World Cup rejects are handling it better than others...
What England's snubbed World Cup stars have been up to...
England may have made a winning start against Croatia on Wednesday night, but there are some big-name players following World Cup news from home this summer.
Thomas Tuchel had some big calls to make, and ended up attracting headlines with the decision to snub the likes of Harry Maguire, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, and Trent Alexander-Arnold in particular.
Others who might feel they were in with a shout include Jarrod Bowen, Adam Wharton, Levi Colwill, and Lewis Hall, but there was at least a little bit of luck for Trevoh Chalobah as he was called up late to replace the injured Tino Livramento.
Scanning through players’ social media pages, it’s all pretty quiet, with the likes of Foden and Alexander-Arnold going over a year without posting on Instagram, while Palmer seems happy enough with life, posting in his usual style of just two or three word captions, not the kind of thing you need a grammar checker for…
One player has really not taken the news well, though, with Manchester United’s Maguire notably having leaked Tuchel’s decision himself ahead of it being officially confirmed, and taking the opportunity to complain about it on Gary Lineker’s podcast.
“He (Tuchel) FaceTimed everyone. It was quite an awkward call,” Maguire said.
“I received a text saying can I speak to you about 4pm. It is quite a unique way of doing it and it must be quite hard because he can see everyone’s reactions.
“I said straightaway I was really disappointed. I thought I did enough to be in the squad and thought I could have helped and had a part to play on and off the pitch.
“He said he can’t give me an excuse but he had gone with the four lads who got him through the autumn.
“It was tough to take. I did think I would be in the squad after being selected for the March camp under him for the first time. I did really well in both games and then went back to Manchester United and finished the season really strongly.”
Maguire added that he won’t retire from England duty, so it seems he’s making it clear he’ll be available again in future if Tuchel wants him.
At the same time, this outburst perhaps suggests the Three Lions boss might have been right to leave him out.
Obviously it’s nice to see that footballers care about these things, as it’s not often they’ll be as outspoken as this, but for the sake of squad harmony and avoiding negative media attention, there’s surely a better way to deal with this than by airing it publicly.
So far, England will surely be happy with their choices, as the likes of Maguire, Foden, and Palmer have not been missed yet, with a statement victory over Croatia showing just how strong this current squad looks.