Thomas Tuchel as a national coach? Do not all find it good in England: a German, of all people. What he is planning there is shown by the example of a late profession.
Dan Burn has waited many hours to call Thomas Tuchel. When he no longer expected it, the number of Tuchel still popped up on the display of his cell phone. That was on Thursday last week. It had become evening now. Burn recently told what happened in the following minutes. Tuchel, says Burn, initially criticized him that he was still awake at 10 p.m. “He said that was unprofessional.”
At this point in his story, Burn has grinded at least once, which is why it can be assumed that it was a joke of the national coach who was entirely like the taste of what was called. Tuchel also announced Burn that he appointed him to the English national team’s squad for the games against Albania (Friday, March 21, 2025, from 8.45 p.m. in the live ticker) and Latvia.
In the first contingent of the still quite new national coach Tuchel, defender Burn, 32, is the big surprise. He could be the second oldest debutant in England for 75 years. In addition to stars such as Harry Kane, 31, or Jew Bellingham, 21. Burn falls off a lot more than just the position.
Burn once worked in a supermarket
Already how it started with him and football: Burn was a teenager when he was retired at Newcastle United. Nevertheless, he dreamed of a professional career. He first played in the fifth division, and he also worked in a supermarket chain. That was a long time ago. Today Burn is a seasoned Premier League player. He played almost 200 games there. He is now playing for Newcastle again, sometimes even in the Champions League.
But burn and the national team? That was a surprise. Tuchel saw it differently. About Burn, which is almost two meters tall, he said: “I was surprised that he has never been nominated, he is such a big guy, but obviously it is still easy to overlook him.”
With Chelsea, Tuchel won the Champions League
Football fans in Great Britain, 51, got to know Thomas Tuchel, 51, as a club coach of Chelsea as one who did everything they could to overlook nothing and anyone. When Tuchel started his job in London in January 2021, Chelsea was a club in the crisis. Half a year later they won the Champions League together.
Football that Tuchel had played was pragmatic, but precisely tailored to the possibilities that the squad offered him. Only the end was unsightly: in autumn 2022 the club separated from him, when Chelsea was in sixth place on the Premier League. Tuchel, some media later reported, had overturned with the club bosses.
National coach England? A German, of all things
It may also have to do with the memories of this time that the reactions in England were not only positive when the football association Tuchel appointed Gareth Southgate succeeded national coach in autumn 2024.
Whether Tuchel’s time at FC Bayern, with whom he had once become a master, but once did not play a role, also remained unclear. The motifs of some tabloids, on the other hand, were obvious. The “Daily Mail” titled: “We don’t need Thomas Tuchel, but a patriot.”
Half a year has passed since then. Tuchel officially started his office in January. He is still German, he won’t get rid of the flaw.
Mister Tuchel learns balancing act
Tuchel does not make your impression that he was concerned with such discussions. It looks more like he came up with something. It seems that learning Tuchel, who always looks a bit as if he could run a marathon out of the stand, now spagate: he does what he thinks is right. He nominated Dan Burn because he is convinced of him. He sits in Premier League stadiums if he considers it appropriate. But he also spends a weekend in Munich where his children live.
At the same time, Tuchel says things that can only be well received in Great Britain. At his first press conference, he referred to Pelé, who is said to have once said that Wembley was the “heart, the capital and the cathedral” of football. Tuchel said: “Pelé is right.” And when a journalist recently asked him for an answer to German, he declined. That, said Tuchel, be “A question of respect”.
National coach – Tuchel will have to change
However, the public judgment about him will not be decisive for the future of the trainer Tuchel. Few people will decide on its future, namely that at the top of the English Football Association. Tuchel’s contract runs until the end of the 2026 World Cup – he should succeed in what his predecessor Southgate failed. He should win the first title with England in almost 60 years.
As a club coach, Tuchel won title with Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, with PSG and Bayern. He has earned the call of a clever tactician who, when eating together with Pep Guardiola, postponed salt and pepper spreader to re-enact movies. Now he will have to change his work. As a national coach, he can no longer work on the details every day. He has to set other priorities.
His new job is less about tactical innovations. It is more about “to build a spirit and a brotherhood”said Tuchel a few days ago. Talent is not only decisive. That could be the chance for someone like burn. A “Solid defender”Tuchel called him. But he saw him too “A leader”.
For Dan Burn, the late profession, an assignment in England’s national team would be the preliminary highlight of a career in which professional football was not much more than a dream in the meantime. A few days ago when he spoke about his nomination at a press conference, Burn said: “I don’t want to go to sleep anymore because I feel like dreaming and everything would be a lie.”