England manager Thomas Tuchel said today that Jude Bellingham is struggling to make the starting line-up at the World Cup because he has "14 or 15 potential starters" in his squad.
"Yes, he's fighting," Tuchel replied when asked if Bellingham was fighting to be in the starting lineup.
"He is one of the starters, he knows he is one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters. Those roles can always change, but at the moment I think there are 14 or 15 real starters and Jude is one of them," Tuchel added, according to the BBC.
The Real Madrid midfielder has only been a starter four times since the German took over as England manager in January 2025, with three more appearances coming from the bench.
Tuchel instead gave his chance to Aston Villa's Morgan Rodgers, who played in 12 of the 13 matches and was the only player to appear in each of England's eight World Cup qualifiers.
Bellingham missed two qualifying matches last September with a shoulder injury, returned to the team in November, but was forced to miss friendlies in March due to injury.
His relationship with Tuchel has often been under scrutiny, with the coach describing Bellingham's on-field behaviour during the defeat to Senegal in June last year as "disgusting", for which he later apologised.
In November, Tuchel said he would "review" Bellingham's behaviour following his reaction to a substitution during a qualifier against Albania.
Still, he was pleased with Bellingham's performance in the World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand.
"You can see that Jude has determination and courage. That's his key trait, but you can see that he's coming back from injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the field," Tuchel said.
"Unfortunately, he had a break in the decisive part of the season, which was very unfortunate for both Real Madrid and for him personally. But now you can see that he is in excellent form. He is coming back, he is fresh, he wants to play and he is in top form," he added.
The England national football team will play in Group L at the World Cup with Croatia, Ghana and Panama.
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