REVEALED: ‘Difficult’ phone call as England boss Thomas Tuchel AXED Trent Alexander-Arnold

Trent Alexander-Arnold made the move from boyhood club Liverpool to Real Madrid over the summer, but has been dropped by Xabi Alonso at the Bernabeu recently as he adapts to Spanish life and a new system

Thomas Tuchel revealed his “difficult” phone call to axe Trent Alexander-Arnold because he wanted to make England’s squad more “spicy”.

Tuchel, who also issued a public apology to Jude Bellingham, admitted he dropped the Real Madrid star because of his lack of form compared to Reece James and Tino Livramento. England boss Tuchel made it clear that Ben White would also have got the nod had the Arsenal defender not got an injury which rules him out of the World Cup qualifiers with Andorra and Serbia.

Former Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold has had a difficult start at Real Madrid and was left out of their starting line-up which beat Real Oviedo last weekend. Tuchel said: “I spoke to Trent. It was a difficult phone call but I wanted him to hear it from me. Which he appreciated and he was very clear that he’s desperate and keen to come back and play for England.

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“It’s all in the mix but it is a competitive decision. And just to make the competition a little bit more spicy. First and foremost, I think Trent is a player who needs to feel trust and love from his manager and team-mates and from his club, his country and the fans. He needs that.

“Reece is at the moment slightly ahead in this position, given what he did for us in the last two camps and how he played the CWC with Chelsea. And then we went for Tino Livramento because of the rhythm that he has and he gives us the option to cover both sides.

“Ben White had a very good chance to be with us. I was very happy with his preseason and the feedback I got from him and from the club about his preseason. He started, straight away got injured, that ruined his chances with us. He would’ve had a very good chance with us.”

It is clearly a long way back for Alexander-Arnold and Tuchel also admitted he is not sure whether his “repulsive” remark about Bellingham will affect their relationship.

Tuchel caused a storm in June when he admitted in a live radio interview that his own mother found some of Bellingham’s on-pitch behaviour “repulsive.” Bellingham misses out because of a shoulder injury.

When asked whether it has affected his relationship, Tuchel added: “I hope not because it happened unintentionally. There was no message involved. Now it’s a moment for Jude to focus on this rehab, and for us to focus on camp.

“I straight away made contact with Jude to make this very clear and, yeah, from there we go. I should have done better.”

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