Why England not selecting Jude Bellingham for World Cup would be 'beyond ridiculous' - Steve McManaman
Published 07/11/2025 at 15:48 GMT
Jude Bellingham is back in the England fold after being recalled for the final World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania. The Real Madrid midfielder has been omitted from the previous two camps and there were suggestions that England may consider leaving him out of next summer's World Cup squad. TNT Sports pundit Steve McManaman rejects this idea and says Bellingham is England's best player.
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TNT Sports pundit Steve McManaman says it is "beyond ridiculous" to suggest that Jude Bellingham should miss out on England's World Cup squad next summer.
The Real Madrid midfielder was recalled by England boss Thomas Tuchel for the final World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania.
England booked their place at next summer's tournament with a dominant 5-0 win at Latvia in the last international break, when Bellingham missed out as he was recovering from shoulder surgery.
Bellingham had also been left out of the previous squad, and with England maintaining their fine form without the Madrid star, there were suggestions that Tuchel could make the bold decision to leave him out of the World Cup.
However, former England international McManaman labelled the talk surrounding Bellingham as "nonsense" and says there is no doubt that the 22-year-old will be on the plane next summer.
"Any talk of Jude not making the England squad was ridiculous now and ridiculous before," he told TNT Sports. "He is England’s best player so he has to be in the squad and I would’ve said the same a month ago.
"I didn’t get involved in all that nonsense when England were playing Latvia and Serbia. With all respect to the teams in that group, we could’ve picked anyone in those squads and we would’ve topped the group.
"I understand that the manager wants to look at a host of different players, and he definitely should do that.
"But to suggest that a fully fit Jude Bellingham would not be selected for England to play at the World Cup is just beyond ridiculous.
"He wasn’t included last time because he wasn’t fit enough, he wasn’t playing enough football, and it probably did him the world of good to miss those games.
"I’d seen him live when Real Madrid were beaten easily in the derby against Atletico Madrid, and he didn’t play enough minutes to get into the England squad.
"It was best for him to stay in Madrid and work on his fitness at that time."
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Bellingham's club team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold has once again been omitted from the England squad, and has not featured since making a cameo appearance off the bench against Andorra in June.
The full-back only returned from injury in midweek when he came off the bench to face former club Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League as Madrid slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Anfield.
The England omission has compounded a tough week for Alexander-Arnold after he was greeted with boos on his return to Merseyside, and McManaman acknowledged that the reaction from supporters was not a surprise.
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However, McManaman believes that missing out on the England squad gives Alexander-Arnold the perfect chance to get back to full fitness.
"He doesn’t need to get chosen for the England squad this time around," he explained. "He needs to get his fitness back, have a couple of weeks at the training ground to work hard and get himself fully fit.
"That’s what he needs. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Trent should be picked for the World Cup squad because I think he’s an incredible footballer and that’s what I want in my team – I don’t want runners, I want incredible footballers in there."
Tuchel has also brought back Manchester City star Phil Foden back into the fold, while Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton has also been called up, as well as Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott.
However, there was no room for Brighton forward Danny Welbeck despite his great start to the season.
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Tuchel also left out Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins for the upcoming internationals, which means that captain Harry Kane is the only out-and-out centre-forward in the squad.
McManaman believes that Welbeck deserved a chance to audition himself for a place at next year's World Cup.
"Danny has played really well this season and deserves his chance with England," he said. "How many centre-forwards are doing better than him at the minute?
"The best striker around is Harry Kane at Bayern Munich, but who’s next? It could be Ollie Watkins or even Marcus Rashford, but Danny deserved a chance to be included in the squad for Thomas Tuchel to have a look at him.
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"I think that’s the only way you can pick a squad. If you’ve been playing really well, you deserve a chance to be called up.
"You shouldn’t automatically be selected because you’ve always been in the squad, you need to keep on playing well and with Danny playing so well, he deserved to be called up and let the manager look at him in the team.
"By the time the World Cup comes around, Thomas Tuchel would’ve looked at around 45 players, and he needs to pick 23-26, but at least he has looked at all his options. All we want from him is to pick the best players next summer to take us to the World Cup."
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