England manager Thomas Tuchel has declared that Jude Bellingham faces genuine competition for a starting place at the World Cup this summer.
Tuchel revealed he currently has “14 or 15 potential starters” in his squad, meaning no player’s place in the XI is guaranteed regardless of reputation.
The Real Madrid midfielder has started only four times since Tuchel took charge as England boss in January 2025, with three further appearances from the bench.
When asked directly whether Bellingham has a fight on his hands to start, Tuchel told reporters: “Yes, he has.”
“He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters,” Tuchel continued.
“These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them.”
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has been among Tuchel’s preferred choices, featuring in 12 of his 13 matches in charge and appearing in all eight World Cup qualifying games.
The 22-year-old’s path under Tuchel has been far from smooth, having missed qualifying matches through injury and been overlooked entirely for October’s international camp.
His relationship with the manager has also drawn scrutiny, with Tuchel having described Bellingham’s behaviour during last June’s defeat by Senegal as “repulsive”, a comment he later apologised for.
In November, Tuchel said he would “review” Bellingham’s behaviour following his reaction to being substituted during a qualifier against Albania.
The contrast with the Gareth Southgate era is stark, as Bellingham missed just 29 minutes of England’s entire Euro 2024 campaign, starting all seven matches.
However, Tuchel struck a notably positive tone following Bellingham’s appearance in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up against New Zealand in Tampa, a 1-0 England victory.
Bellingham took the captain’s armband after coming on at half-time and impressed enough to earn warm words from his manager ahead of the tournament.
“You can see Jude has for sure the decisiveness and bite,” Tuchel said. “This is his key characteristic, but you can see that he comes from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch.”
Tuchel acknowledged that injuries had disrupted Bellingham’s season at a critical stage, with the midfielder missing significant time during Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign and title challenge in Spain.
“But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he’s fresh, he wants to play and he’s in top shape,” Tuchel added.
The manager’s comments suggest that while competition for places is fierce, a focused and fit Bellingham remains very much in his World Cup plans.
