Alexander-Arnold still in Tuchel's thinking despite 'Madrid, nothing else' post

Thomas Tuchel insists Trent Alexander-Arnold remains on a long list of players in consideration for England's World Cup squad, despite the full-back's cryptic reaction to his latest international snub.

Despite the international retirements of fellow right-backs Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier, Alexander-Arnold remains out in the cold at international level.

The former Liverpool man has only played one game for his country since Tuchel took charge last January, having also struggled for regular game time under Gareth Southgate. 

After being left out of Tuchel's squad for friendly matches against Uruguay and Japan, Alexander-Arnold used the caption "Madrid, nothing else" on an Instagram post.

Asked about that reaction in an interview with ITV Sport, Tuchel insisted Alexander-Arnold's World Cup fate was not decided but acknowledged Reece James, Djed Spence, Tino Livramento and Ben White were currently ahead of him.

"Well, fair enough," Tuchel said of Alexander-Arnold's social media post. 

"I think it's a very hard decision that we took. There's no doubt about his talent, no doubt about his career and what he can give to teams.

"We created a slightly different game model when he was not in camp in September, October and November. It was a game model built on intensity, built on positivity, built even on the profile of the right full-back on overlaps and underlaps, very intense.

"So it was a slightly different profile of players who were with us in camp and who performed so well. We just stuck with these guys. He was with us in June, and he should have maybe deserved a second chance.

"It is a very hard decision. I'm aware of it, but he took it on the chin. He will keep on going. I will make sure that I see some matches from Real Madrid, maybe in the Champions League, to get my last impressions.

"He's on the long list, and everyone is still in the mix, but at the moment, some other guys are just ahead of him."

Alexander-Arnold has won 34 England caps in total, though he missed Euro 2020 through injury and only made one appearance at the 2022 World Cup, before being dropped from Southgate's starting line-up two games into the Three Lions' Euro 2024 campaign.