Jude Bellingham could give England a new option at number nine, says Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel believes Jude Bellingham can offer England an alternative at centre-forward and says the Real Madrid midfielder could eventually become the national team’s permanent captain.

Bellingham came on in the 71st minute of England’s 2-0 Nations League victory over Czechia on Tuesday, replacing captain Harry Kane before taking the armband for the closing stages.

The 23-year-old has generally operated in an advanced midfield role under Tuchel, but the England manager now views him as capable of leading the attack when his side require a different approach.

“I like him as a (No) 9,” Tuchel said. “Then he can contribute to both sides and overloads the sides and doesn’t affect so much of the balance.”

Kane remains England’s first-choice striker and scored his 87th international goal to complete the victory in Prague. However, England do not currently have an obvious long-term successor to their captain.

Tuchel has made clear that England will not replace Kane with another player who performs exactly the same role. Instead, he believes Bellingham’s flexibility could help create a different attacking solution.

“You will not get another Harry Kane, first of all,” Tuchel said. “We look for different solutions. We finished the game with Jude as a No 9. There will be someone else but it will not be Harry or a copy of Harry.”

Whether Bellingham plays as a number nine or number 10, Tuchel wants him to continue making runs beyond the defence and arriving in scoring positions.

“Jude in general should always be able to go through the last line and be able to end up in the box,” Tuchel added. “He is a natural goalscorer and has the hunger to be on the scoreboard.”

Bellingham is also being considered as a future leader. Kane continues to captain England and Declan Rice is currently absent, but Bellingham has worn the armband several times.

He led the team during June’s World Cup warm-up win over Costa Rica and briefly took charge during the defeat by Spain at the weekend.

Asked if Bellingham could become England’s permanent captain, Tuchel said: “If you are the captain at the end of these matches you can for sure be the permanent captain.”

Bellingham started on the bench in Prague because Tuchel wanted to manage his workload following Saturday’s defeat by Spain. The midfielder had not faced such a short turnaround during the current season, so the manager opted to restrict his minutes rather than risk overloading him.

Bellingham did suffer a minor niggle late in his appearance, although Tuchel hopes it will not prevent him from playing against Croatia.

England were already in control after Czechia were reduced to 10 men in the first half when Pavel Sulc was sent off following a VAR review. Anthony Gordon headed in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross shortly after half-time, before Kane scored the second to move England up to second in Nations League Group A3.

Tuchel was pleased with an efficient away performance after England had struggled to impose themselves early on.

“I love sometimes these unglamorous results so you have a relaxed evening,” he said. “It cannot be always glamourous and super exciting. You have to sometimes do the hard work with not a lot of praise.”

Kane remains England’s undisputed striker and captain, but Tuchel’s comments indicate that Bellingham could take on greater responsibility in both attack and leadership as the team plans for life beyond their established talisman.