Thomas Tuchel says England players’ Manchester City situation caused ‘guilt’ as Jude Bellingham tipped for captaincy

Thomas Tuchel says he feels “guilty” for not speaking to England’s Manchester City players before Tuesday’s Nations League victory over the Czech Republic, after the Premier League confirmed a guilty verdict against the club over serious financial breaches.

England recovered from their 3-2 defeat by Spain in the opening round by winning 2-0 in the Czech Republic. The ruling was confirmed only hours before the match, raising questions about its potential impact on Manchester City players in the England camp.

Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly had travelled with the squad, with Anderson, Guehi and O’Reilly among those potentially affected by the news concerning the club and more than 115 charges.

Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live whether he had spoken to the players, Tuchel said: “I feel guilty now. Honestly, I did not, because I’m focused only on everything we have to deal with here and on preparing the team.”

Questions were also raised about Guehi and O’Reilly after photographs appeared to show the pair listening to an audio recording on a mobile phone at Fortuna Arena.

It has not been confirmed what the players were listening to, or whether they were listening to anything in particular. However, Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano sent a video to the organisation’s 1,000 employees, insisting the club was innocent and describing the situation as a “conspiracy theory” in the Premier League.

Bellingham considered as Kane successor

After the final whistle in Prague, Tuchel also suggested Jude Bellingham could become England’s next permanent captain after Harry Kane.

Bellingham took the armband when he replaced Kane with 20 minutes of the match remaining. Asked whether the decision offered an indication of the future, Tuchel said: “If you are captain at the end of these matches, you can definitely become the permanent captain.”

He added: “It’s a reward. It’s good. I think he likes being with us at the moment. That’s how I feel.”

Tuchel said he and Bellingham had discussed the midfielder’s role before the match and agreed that a 30-minute appearance would be enough because he had not played during this short run of fixtures this season.

“We talked a little bit today about his role and said maybe 30 minutes is enough because he has not played in this short period of matches this season,” Tuchel said. “He has done it before, but not this season, so we did not want to be the first ones to try it.”

“But even in this short time, you can see that he is confident and happy even to contribute from the bench.”

Tuchel also revealed that Bellingham reported a minor injury at the end of the game. England travel to Croatia on Saturday before hosting the Czech Republic next Tuesday.

“We hope it is not serious and that he is available for selection,” Tuchel said.