THOMAS TUCHEL has lifted the lid on his “difficult” conversation with axed England star Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Real Madrid full-back, 26, was surprisingly left out of Tuchel’s Three Lions squad for upcoming qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia.
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Tuchel instead opted for Reece James, Tino Livramento and uncapped Djed Spence.
Alexander-Arnold has experienced a challenging start to life at Real Madrid.
The former Liverpool star was substituted 68 minutes into their LaLiga opener against Osasuna before being benched for last weekend’s trip to Real Oviedo.
Explaining his decision to axe the 34-cap star, Tuchel said: “I spoke to Trent. It was a difficult phone call but I wanted him to hear it from me.
“Which he appreciated and he was very clear that he’s desperate and keen to come back and play for England.
“It’s all in the mix but it is a competitive decision. And just to make the competition a little bit more spicy.
“First and foremost, I think Trent is a player who needs to feel trust and love from his manager and team-mates and from his club, his country and the fans. He needs that.”
On the other options at his disposal, Tuchel, 52, added: “Reece is at the moment slightly ahead in this position, given what he did for us in the last two camps and how he played the CWC with Chelsea.
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“And then we went for Tino Livramento because of the rhythm that he has and he gives us the option to cover both sides.
“Ben White had a very good chance to be with us. I was very happy with his pre-season and the feedback I got from him and from the club about his pre-season.
“He started, straight away got injured, that ruined his chances with us. He would’ve had a very good chance with us.”
Tottenham star Spence, meanwhile, has been called up following a brilliant start to the season under Thomas Frank.
On the former England Under-21s star’s call-up, Tuchel said: “He had a very good end to the season with Tottenham and a very impressive start to the season.
“He was impressively good against Paris in the European Super Cup final.
“He came up against a lot of quality on his side, against a lot of speed and handled it impressively well and kept on going with Tottenham in the Premier League starts.
“He can play both sides, he plays very intense, he’s in shape and he deserved to be called up.”
