Thomas Tuchel is not expected to attend Premier League matches to scout players before he begins his role as England’s head coach on 1 January.
The German, who signed his contract to become Gareth Southgate’s long-term successor last week, is not under pressure from the Football Association to be a visible presence at games or do work behind the scenes before the turn of the year. The FA will keep Lee Carsley in interim charge for next month’s Nations League games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, with the expectation that Tuchel will hit the ground running in January.
The former Bayern Munich manager has made some preparations, having appointed Anthony Barry as his No 2, and he is looking to add figures from his former club Chelsea to his backroom staff. James Melbourne, head of performance analysis at Chelsea, will be allowed to join the FA on a permanent basis and Tuchel wants to take the goalkeeping coach Hilário. The Portuguese, who represented the club as a player before returning as a coach, has not decided whether to link up with Tuchel. He has told Chelsea that he is in two minds over leaving. Chelsea, who have appointed Ben Roberts as their head of global goalkeeping, are aware they have a lot of figures in their goalkeeping department. It is unclear whether Carsley’s assistant, Ashley Cole, will be part of Tuchel’s team.
Appointments to the backroom staff aside, though, there is no great sense of urgency. There is a desire to give Carsley space to finish his interim role and that means there is very little prospect of Tuchel, who is set to miss the qualifying draw for the 2026 World Cup on 13 December, showing up at club games in England before his role officially begins. If he does want to make checks on players in person, it is likely that would happen after the November international break. It is also unclear when Tuchel will move to England.
The FA is comfortable with the situation despite the confusion over why Tuchel is not starting immediately. It has been pointed out that the former Chelsea manager will have three months to make decisions on his squad before his first camp in March.
The 51-year-old proved at Chelsea he is more than capable of making an instant impact. He won the Champions League four months after being appointed in January 2021. Remaining in Germany would also allow him to keep up with Harry Kane and Eric Dier at Bayern.
“We always said to Lee he would have three camps and we were very clear he’d run the Nations League campaign,” Mark Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, said on Wednesday. “And when we first spoke to Thomas he wanted to have a singular focus on the World Cup, so it made sense on both sides for him to start on January 1.”
It remains unclear whether England will play World Cup qualifiers, two friendlies or a Nations League promotion playoff in March. They will avoid a playoff if they can win group B2 but Carsley’s side are second after losing to Greece last week. Whether World Cup qualifying begins in March or June also depends on the draw.
