Thomas Tuchel insists that Jack Grealish is still very part of his designs in England, but warned him of how his behavior can be perceived by the stadium and says he has the responsibility to look “calmer”.
The Manchester City man stayed out of Tuchel’s first team of 26 people, having only made three replacements in this calendar year in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, Tuchel revealed that the two had honest discussions about his current poor form, and the Head of New England is glamorous in his admiration for the wing.
“I love Jack,” Tuchel said.
“I love everything about him – his personality. I like his quality. The guy has courage. He can get the heat. He is not affected if Bernabeu whistles.
“So is a player who can be available and have an impact on our team?” Yes – 100 percent, but recently it has no pace and knows that he himself, I think Jack gets better and better the most minutes he plays, has the character to be glue in a team, it’s easy for young people to cling to him. “
The Director of England was asked directly about reports in newspapers showing Grealish socializing in a pub in East Manchester a week ago. Pep Guardiola said he was relaxed for the pictures and only judged his players on how they are performing in education and on the pitch. Tuchel agrees to a large extent.
“Of course, it’s not ideal if he is in the newspapers and out there in the public, but maybe it’s not just his own mistake,” Tuchel said.
“Everyone out there have a phone in his pocket, these guys are famous. That can happen. It’s not ideal, we want to have him calmer, but that’s not the reason not to get him.”
Tuchel also revealed that he plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks to meet Ivan Toney and watch him play in the flesh and that the striker is still very much in his thoughts on future England teams.
It was also confirmed that Ollie Watkins was omitted only by Tuchel’s first team because he has knee injury. But the manager says there is real competition for places for the role of Harry Kane’s impressive Understudy, and Watkins, Toney and Dominic Solaken are in the context.
“It will be, I think, it is important to go see Ivan in the coming weeks. Watch a game live. You may be watching live. Get a better feeling for him. He’s on the list.”
Tuchel says that in the absence of Watkins he went down to a straight choice between Solanke and Toney for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
“It was a purely athletic decision for Dominic in the end. It was nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, or if we don’t trust the championship there, I had much more evidence and observation live than Dominic matches so immediately I made this choice.
“With Watkins we had a decision to do because of inflammation in the tendon of the patella that bothers him very much, so it makes no sense to call him.”