England head coach Thomas Tuchel has explained why he has named both Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson in his squad for March's World Cup 2026 qualification fixtures against Albania and Latvia.
Rashford has not turned out for England since March 2024 and was left out of the squad for Euro 2024 due to his struggles at Manchester United, but the forward's strong form while on loan at Aston Villa has seen him earn a recall.
Ajax captain Henderson, meanwhile, is a surprise selection, with the 34-year-old back in the squad for the first time since November 2023.
"It's a pretty easy one. He's a serial winner, he's captain of Ajax at the moment and he's played a lot of matches," Tuchel told reporters when quizzed on the decision to call up Henderson.
"What he brings to every team is leadership, character, personality, energy. He makes sure that everyone lives by the standards. We're trying to build a team for our fans are proud of... Jordan embodies everything we want from this team."
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Tuchel praises Rashford's "huge impact at Aston Villa"
Addressing Rashford, Tuchel said: "It's a familiar face back in the team. I felt Marcus had a huge impact at Aston Villa.
"The physical impact was impressive and most importantly, the impact against the ball - his work rate, his defensive impact, his hard work in counter-pressing, his tracking back in his position.
"I had the strong feeling that we should bring him in to push him to stay on that level and not fall back in old routines."
Meanwhile, the decision to hand a first call-up to Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly was also discussed: "With injuries lately, we ran out of left-footers who can play left-back.
"We were always impressed with Myles... Mikel Arteta picks him regularly and this is very impressive from the start. I can understand that it feels like we have fast forwarded a career already on a fast pace.
"The talks over the last few weeks had a parental and protective vibe, we even thought we should not nominate him to protect him by going to the U21s. But in the end with injuries, quality and maturity, we decided to take him."
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Is Arsenal defender White in Tuchel's plans?
Tuchel also revealed that Arsenal defender Ben White has now made himself available for selection, but the German believed that it was too soon to bring him into the squad due to his injury issues this season.
"He'd love to be back in the squad but I just think it is a bit too early for him given the seriousness of the injury he had," said the manager.
"We are speaking to Ben and are delighted he is back on the bench and had a Champions League match in the second leg. It's about getting the minutes so he can have every chance of being back."
White has not played for England since the 2022 World Cup, as he told ex-Three Lions head coach Gareth Southgate that he did not want to be considered for selection amid reports of an alleged incident with Southgate's assistant Steve Holland.
The 27-year-old underwent a knee operation in November, but the defender has recently returned to action, playing a part in four of Arsenal's last five matches in all competitions.
Manchester City's Jack Grealish, Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins and Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White are also among those to have been left out of the squad, while Henderson's selection over the likes of Atletico Madrid's Conor Gallagher and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton has been criticised.
Matt Law
