Thomas Tuchel was asked about Cole Palmer pulling out of the England squad and did not soften it. "It is a missed opportunity. He misses too many opportunities," the England manager said. "I don't blame him for it. It is just a fact." Then the line that will follow Palmer around for a while: "He misses way too many camps with injuries."
The withdrawal caught people out. Palmer has started all five of Chelsea's Premier League games this season, so on the surface there is nothing wrong. Tuchel's explanation is that the 24-year-old is playing through discomfort and pain and cannot compete at the highest level in that state, and that both the player and the club informed England. Palmer is currently abroad on an injury-specific training programme, with a Chelsea rehabilitation coach travelling with him.
Three caps in twenty months
Here is the number that gives Tuchel's comment its edge. Palmer has played three times for England since the German took charge in January 2025. He was left out of the World Cup squad altogether. For a player who has been Chelsea's most important attacker for two seasons, that is a strange record, and Tuchel explained the logic behind it plainly enough: he only wants to pick from what he sees in his own camp, and there is a level of impression you can only make on the training pitch with the manager watching.
Whether you find that reasonable or harsh probably depends on how much you think an international manager should be scouting Premier League football rather than his own sessions. Tuchel is not hiding the policy, which counts for something. Palmer is also not the only absentee: Declan Rice, Tino Livramento, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo have all withdrawn injured.
Tuchel will not entertain the club-versus-country reading
He was invited to worry that players now put clubs first and refused the invitation. He made a point of saying that when he worked in club football he used the phrase "international break" himself, and that it sounds completely different from the other side of the fence. He called the England camp competitive but also something the players enjoy being part of, talked about togetherness and brotherhood built up through qualifying since last September, and said he would never let a feeling take hold that players do not want to come.
Spain at Wembley, and the Argentina hangover
Saturday brings the world champions to Wembley in England's first match since the World Cup ended. That tournament finished with a 6-4 win over France in the third-place match, but what most people remember is the semi-final against Argentina, where England led with fifteen minutes to go, dropped deeper and deeper, gave the ball away and conceded twice in the closing minutes.
Tuchel does not expect the crowd to hold it against them. He said it would surprise him a great deal if a third-place finish and an accident in the 85th minute of a semi-final turned the atmosphere, and pointed to how quickly the game sold out. On the football, he was blunt about what Spain do to opponents. They control the ball and the rhythm, there will be spells where England suffer and have to suffer, and there should also be spells where England dominate and get to use what they are good at.
Squad facts: Cole Palmer, 24, Chelsea, withdrew from the England squad with discomfort and pain; three caps under Thomas Tuchel since January 2025 and left out of the World Cup squad. Also withdrawn: Declan Rice, Tino Livramento, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo. England play Spain at Wembley on Saturday, their first match since the World Cup. Source: BBC Sport (Alex Howell, Sami Mokbel and Nizaar Kinsella).
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