Thomas Tuchel insists that Jack Grealish is still very part of his plans in England in the future, but he has warned him how his behavior can be observed outside the field and says he has the responsibility to look more “calm”.
The Manchester City-Man was omitted from the first 26-man team of Tuchel, after he had only made three replacement performances in the Premier League this calendar year.
Nevertheless, Tuchel revealed that the two honest discussions have had about his current bad form, and the boss of New England is glowing in his admiration for the winger.
“I love Jack,” said Tuchel.
“I love everything to him – his personality, I love his quality, the man has courage, he can take the heat, he is not hit when the Bernabeu whistles him.
“So he is a player who can be available and has an impact in our team? Yes – 100 percent. But lately he just has no rhythm, and he knows that himself. I think Jack gets better and better as he plays more minutes. He has the character to be the glue in a team, it's easy for young people to attach to him.”
The manager of England was directly asked about newspaper reports that showed Grealisky in a pub in Oost -Manchester a week ago. Pep Guardiola said he was relaxed about the images, and only assesses his players about how they perform in training and on the field. Tuchel largely agrees.
“Of course it is not ideal if he is in the newspapers and there in public, but it may not be just his fault,” Tuchel said.
“Everyone outside has a phone in his pocket, these guys are famous, this can happen. It is not ideal, we want it to be calmer, but this is not the reason not to choose him.”
Tuchel also revealed that he is planning to travel to Saudi Aarabia in the coming weeks to meet Ivan Toney and see him play in the flesh, and that the striker is still in his mind for future English squadrons.
It was also confirmed that Ollie Watkins was only omitted from the first team of Tuchel because he has a knee shot in knee injury. But the manager says that there is real competition for places for the role of Harry Kane's striking Understudy, and Watkins, Toney and Dominic Solanke are all in the context.
“I think it will be important to go to Ivan in the coming weeks, to see a game live, perhaps watch live, to get a better feeling for him. He is on the list.”
Tuchel says that in the absence of Watkins it amounted to a straight choice between Solanke and Toney for the upcoming world cup qualifications against Albania and Latvia.
“In the end it was a purely sporting decision for Dominic. It had nothing to do with Saudi Aarabia, or if we didn't trust the competition there. I just had much more evidence and observation of the matches of Dominic, so I made that choice.
“With Watkins we had to make a decision because of inflammation on the patella tendon that just bothers him too much, so it makes no sense to call him up.”
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