Thomas Tuchel has confirmed Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers are in a direct “competition” for a place in his England team.
Bellingham has returned to Tuchel’s squad for the final international camp of the year, with Rogers shining in the No 10 position as England secured qualification for the World Cup with two games to spare.
Ahead of facing Serbia at Thursday, Tuchel said that while Bellingham and Rogers can play together, it was “not the moment” to change England’s formation to get both players into the team.
“Rather than finding a position for the best players to have them on the field, it is maybe better to put everyone in their best position and have a competition,” Tuchel said.
“At the moment, the competition is between the two of them. They are friends, so it is a friendly competition. They don’t have to be enemies and hate each other. They are respectful and they fight for the same position.
“Can they play together? Yes, but in a different structure and now is not the moment to change the structure.”
Tuchel has looked to maintain consistency in his recent squad selections with the goal of creating a “brotherhood” ahead of next summer’s World Cup, but brought Bellingham and Phil Foden back into the fold following their absences last month.
With the competition for No 10 set to be fierce, Tuchel said Bellingham currently has the “that edge” over others in the position.
“It has been good to have him back,” Tuchel said on Thursday. “There has been a good atmosphere in the last two days and everyone is happy to be in camp.
“It is competitive, the mood is light and everybody is happy to be in camp. The attitude and energy on the training pitch is where we want it to be.
“We have one more training session to go to be competitive tomorrow and Jude is a part of that.”
