Thomas Tuchel insists that Jack Grealish is still one of his plans in England in the future, but he warned him of how his behavior out of the field could be perceived, and says that he has the responsibility of appearing more “calm”.
The Manchester City man was excluded from the first team of 26 men from Tuchel, having only made three substitute matches this calendar year in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, Tuchel revealed that the two had had honest discussions on his current bad form, and the boss of New England shines in his admiration for the winger.
“I love Jack,” said Tuchel.
“I love everything about him – his personality, I like his quality, the guy has courage, he can take the heat, he is not affected if the Bernabeu whistles him.
“So, is he a player who can be available and who has an impact in our team? Yes-100%. But recently, he simply has no pace, and he knows that himself. I think Jack improves better as well as he plays. He has the character to be the glue in a team, it is easy for young people to attach him.”
The manager of England was questioned directly on the newspaper reports which showed a Greal socialization in an East Manchester pub a week ago. Pep Guardiola said he was relaxed about images and only judges his players on how they perform in training and on the field. Tuchel is largely agree.
“Of course, it is not ideal if it is in the newspapers and there in public, but it may not only be his fault,” said Tuchel.
“Everyone has a phone in their pocket, these guys are famous, it can happen. It is not ideal, we want to do it calmer, but that is not the reason for not choosing it.”
Tuchel also revealed that he planned to go to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks to meet Ivan Toney and watch him play in the flesh, and that the attacker is always very thoughts for future teams of England.
It was also confirmed that Ollie Watkins was only omitted from the first Tuchel team because he has an insignificant knee injury. But the manager says that there is a real competition for the places for the role of the sub-study of Harry Kane, and Watkins, Toney and Dominic Solanke are all in the context.
“It will be, I think, important to go see Ivan in the coming weeks, to watch a live match, maybe watching live training, to feel better for him. He is on the list.”
Tuchel says that in the absence of Watkins, he resisted himself with a straight choice between Solanke and Toney for the upcoming qualifications of the World Cup against Albania and Latvia.
“It was a purely sporting decision for Dominic at the end. It had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, or if we do not trust the League there. I just had much more evidence and live observation of the matches of Dominic if immediately, I made this choice.
“With Watkins, we had the decision to take because of the inflammation on the joint tendon which disturbs it too much, so it makes no sense to call it.”