Tuchel puts Bellingham on notice: Fight for your England shirt

England manager Thomas Tuchel has warned Jude Bellingham that his reputation will not guarantee him a place in the starting line-up at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The Real Madrid midfielder, one of England’s biggest names, now faces a serious battle to start under Tuchel, who says he has “14 or 15 potential starters” in his squad.

Bellingham has started only four matches since Tuchel took over as England manager in January 2025, with three other appearances coming from the bench.

The German coach has instead leaned heavily on Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers, who has featured in 12 of Tuchel’s 13 matches in charge and was the only player involved in all eight of England’s World Cup qualifying games.

Asked directly whether Bellingham had a fight on his hands to make England’s starting XI, Tuchel said: “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.

“These roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 proper starters and Jude is one of them.”

Bellingham was almost untouchable under former manager Gareth Southgate, missing only 29 minutes of England’s Euro 2024 campaign and starting all seven matches.

But his status has shifted since Tuchel replaced Southgate.

The 22-year-old missed two World Cup qualifiers last September due to a shoulder injury and was later left out of England’s October camp, including the qualifier against Latvia.

He returned to the squad in November but missed March friendlies because of a persistent hamstring problem.

Bellingham’s relationship with Tuchel has also come under scrutiny.

The England manager was forced to apologise after describing Bellingham’s on-field behaviour during last June’s defeat by Senegal as “repulsive.”

In November, Tuchel also said he would “review” Bellingham’s behaviour after the midfielder reacted angrily to being substituted during a qualifier against Albania.

Despite that, Tuchel praised Bellingham’s performance in England’s 1-0 World Cup warm-up win over New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday.

Bellingham came on at half-time and took the captain’s armband, with Tuchel saying the midfielder now appears to be in a strong physical and mental condition 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.

“He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season, the Champions League season and campaign for the championship in Spain, so this was very unfortunate for Real Madrid and for him personally.

“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.”

Bellingham has scored six goals in 47 appearances for England.

But with Rogers now firmly in Tuchel’s plans, the Real Madrid star may have to do more than rely on his name to reclaim an automatic starting role at the World Cup.