Thomas Tuchel will speak to Ben White over ending England exile

THOMAS TUCHEL has promised England’s players a clean slate when he takes over as England manager.

This will include speaking to Arsenal’s Ben White over whether he wants to end his self-imposed exile from international football.

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And it will also be good news for the likes of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling who could potentially return if they are able to rediscover their top form on a consistent basis in the Premier League.

Tuchel was at FIFA’s HQ in Zurich for the 2026 World Cup qualifying draw even though he does not officially start work until the New Year.

The German’s full-time predecessor, Gareth Southgate, had an ability to cast a spell over the draws for both qualifying and major tournaments as he always ended up with easy groups.

And it looks as though Southgate has passed his secret on to Tuchel.

The former Bayern Munich manager drove to Switzerland as it is only 160 miles from his Bavaria home.

And his team will surely cruise into the 2026 tournament to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Tuchel said: “It should be a clean start and a clear narrative. It starts from January. I will be in the stadiums from January. The players should just know, ‘okay, the boss is there from January’.

“Then I will of course try to speak to them, but also be respectful to the schedule that they have, because the schedule is busy in January, especially in the Premier League.”

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Asked about White, Tuchel said: “Yes. I will reach out to him.”

Although the German has about a little chance of success in persuading the player to deliver a U-turn.

He left the squad during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar due to personal reasons.

It is also likely that Tuchel, who loved Mount when he was in charge at Chelsea, is also likely to deliver a shock in the same way interim manager Lee Carsley sprung a surprise by parachuting Angel Gomes into the squad for the Uefa Nations League games.

While Tuchel talks about a fresh start, he is still likely to stick with Harry Kane as captain.

There is a valid argument that No9s do not make great captains although considering Tuchel is the man who persuaded his Bayern Munich bosses to sign Kane from Tottenham, it would be a huge shock if the skipper’s armband was suddenly handed to Jude Bellingham or Declan Rice.

Tuchel said: “There is no need to think about the change. I am in charge from January and Harry was also a top captain for England, so why even think about it at the moment? We will cross the river when we get to the river.

“We will first get to January and then we will be in touch with everyone and get a feeling for St George’s and also for the players.

“Until March, there is still a lot of football to be played and then we will try to find the best group for the games that wait.”

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England have not lost a World Cup qualifier since a 1-0 loss to Ukraine in 2009 which was a dead rubber.

Serbia, ranked 32 in the world, are not a bad side but you still worry more about the behaviour of their fans rather than the team.

Albania’s supporters also caused issues at Euro 2024, and we are not talking about the fans who snapped spaghetti in front of a group of Italians before their group stage match.

England had few problems against the Albanians in qualifying for Qatar and it is also tedious that this set of matches also includes games against hopeless Andorra who, according to Southgate, had the worst plastic pitch in European football.

Tuchel yesterday responded to criticism that he has not been at any Premier League games or was in the stands for the final two England games under interim manager Lee Carsley in November as he had been confirmed as manager.

He said: “Why would I sit on the stands? It was my wish to let Lee finish this campaign, because obviously the FA had the agreement with Lee, more or less, to go through this Nations League campaign.

“Why have the cameras on me? Why have the focus on me? What about Lee and his team and his nomination? It’s for me, a way to show my respect and to show my trust, to not be there and sit on the tribune and have all the media attention.”

Curiously, Tuchel has still not spoken to Carsley.

With tongue in cheek, he added: “The famous handover is not done yet – we will do this very naturally when I am at St George’s in January.

“From there on, we will have very close communication, hopefully, and open doors because he is the U21s coach and I am responsible for the first team.”