Tuchel leaves Palmer out as Jobe Bellingham and Josh King earn first England call-ups

Cole Palmer has been left out of England’s squad for November’s Nations League matches, with manager Thomas Tuchel saying the Chelsea forward has not taken enough opportunities to impress him. BBC Sport reported that Borussia Dortmund’s Jobe Bellingham and Fulham’s Josh King have instead received their first senior England call-ups, adding two new attacking-midfield options to the squad.

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England will host Croatia at Wembley on Thursday, 12 November, before facing Spain in Madrid on Sunday, 15 November. Palmer, 24, had withdrawn from the squad for the early autumn fixtures. Explaining his latest selection, Tuchel said he was satisfied with the players who had been involved in the previous camp and already had sufficient options in the number 10 role.

Tuchel also outlined a broader role for King than his usual attacking-midfield position. The England manager said he wanted to assess the Fulham player on both wings and valued his ability to cover four positions. While acknowledging Palmer’s desire to represent England, Tuchel stressed the importance of what players show when they are present with the national squad, according to BBC Sport’s account of his comments.

Jobe Bellingham, 21, joins his brother Jude in the squad. If both feature together in an England line-up, they could become the first siblings to do so since Gary and Phil Neville. There are recalls elsewhere, with Arsenal defender Ben White and Inter Milan’s Djed Spence returning for the first time since the summer. Everton’s James Garner and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White keep their places after joining the previous squad before its fixtures began.

Injuries have ruled out several players. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka is absent after suffering a quadriceps injury against Bayern Munich last month; his club expects him to miss six weeks. Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento also remain unavailable because of hip and knee injuries respectively, having withdrawn before England played any matches in the previous international window.

Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott has not been selected after being injured against Croatia in October. Trevoh Chalobah, Nico O’Reilly and Rico Lewis are also absent from the squad. By contrast, Arsenal pair Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa are fit and included after withdrawing from the previous England group, giving Tuchel both players back for the November fixtures.