Fresh winner of the Conference with Crystal Palace, the playmaker won’t liven up the World Cup but the transfer market will. Tuchel’s choice could become a source of controversy… Can we do without one of England’s most creative midfielders?
It wasn’t a surprise, at least to him. Before making the list for the World Cup official, Tuchel gave him a cold and cordial phone call: “You’re not there. I’m sorry, it was almost there.” At 22, Adam Wharton let it rub off on him: “I’m not going to sit and cry, that’s football, it’s not the end of the world, I’m still young.” The English less so: on big events they always have a raw nerve, every time a guru comes from outside to manage their national team (it also happened to Eriksson and Capello) they nitpick him, and are convinced that his absence is the German coach’s real cardinal sin. Steps for Palmer (physically in pieces), Foden (always magical, but with many alternatives and fresh from a bad season), Alexander-Arnold (bad at Real and not called up consistently for two years) and Maguire (better than others in the squad, but shooting at him in England is as traditional as fox hunting), but the failure to call up one of the best midfielders in the country, perhaps the best in terms of the number of ways in which he can influence a match, didn’t go down well with many.
