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It is a hot topic of conversation in boardrooms across Europe: just what is going to happen next with Pep Guardiola?

Another international break may have come and gone but the uncertainty around the Manchester City endures.

There was a school of thought that a fortnight’s break, coming off the back of an impressive Carabao Cup win over Arsenal, would allow him to crystalise his thoughts about whether he would see out a deal that ends in 2027.

But there has been no puff of white smoke above the Etihad. Guardiola is keeping everyone – including City’s top brass – guessing about what his true intentions are.

Inside City the mood seems relaxed. There is no prospect of the club pushing Guardiola to make a decision or publicly declare his intention. There is too much respect for his achievements for that.

Instead they will allow him, as they did in 2024 when his contract was up for renewal at the end of the season, to come to a decision in his own time.

This matters, and not just to those at City. The managerial market is already set to be manic this summer, with vacancies at Manchester United and potentially Real Madrid to be filled at the end of the season.

There’s uncertainty around the futures of Eddie Howe at Newcastle United and Arne Slot at Liverpool, but if City enter the market, intrigue really ramps up.

City will feel they’re prepared, having held discussions with Enzo Maresca at the end of last year. Xabi Alonso and former City captain Vincent Kompany, who has impressed at Bayern Munich, are the most widely touted replacements but there are others, so far hidden underneath the radar.

The i Paper understands they also admire Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, which could explain his lingering reluctance to commit to a new contract on the south coast.

But the club’s number one wish – and their clear preference – would be for Guardiola to stay and complete the rebuild job that began in 2024 when they erred in the transfer market after winning the Champions League.

Allowing that team to grow old sparked a transfer scramble which has seen City spend the thick end of half-a-billion pounds on 20 players, many of whom will much be stronger for a year in which Guardiola has seen plenty of signs of improvement. Rayan Cherki is just 22, Jeremy Doku is 23 and even Marc Guehi – signed from Crystal Palace in January – is 25.

The intention is to strengthen again in the summer, with City firmly in pole position to sign Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson ahead of city rivals United. They also want a right-back and have carried out checks on Brentford’s impressive Italy under-21 international Michael Kayode.

Those plans are unlikely to be knocked by whatever happens with Guardiola but there’s no doubt they would be in a better position to attack next season and beyond if they knew definitively what was happening with their manager.

There are those close to the City hierarchy who are convinced that Guardiola would never leave them in the lurch by making a decision last minute.

One described the feverish speculation as an attempt to unsettle City as they attempt to chase down Arsenal and Guardiola himself has reacted incredulously when quizzed on the topic in press conferences. It is worth noting he has hardly looked like a man whose energy levels are sapping on the touchline recently.

But he’s also a maverick and his own man, who knows the end of his sky-blue chapter is coming sooner rather than later. The suggestion is that even he doesn’t know whether he’ll still be in Manchester come August.

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A few weeks ago, a Sunderland post on social media channels garnered plenty of attention.

As the Black Cats’ stunning start to the season spluttered, it speculated that the owners might act to remove Regis Le Bris.

To the outside world that would sound outrageous, given he is in manager of the year territory for what he has achieved this campaign.

But if you know a little about Sunderland, and the ruthless, relentless culture that drives decisions on Wearside, you will understand why it felt like a debate worth having.

It is worth emphasising here that internally there are no doubts that the impressive Le Bris is their man.

Tactically he is viewed as elite and the work done to maintain Sunderland’s dressing room culture despite a raft of new arrivals is regarded as especially impressive.

But the implication is not far from the truth. Under owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Sunderland have developed a reputation for being ruthless. Tracking trends and performance metrics that aren’t always obvious to the naked eye, they have never been afraid to make a big, potentially unpopular call.

It is true on and off-the-field. Further evidence of Sunderland’s relentless desire to keep progressing came as popular chief business officer David Bruce left the club this week as part of a wide-ranging restructure that sources say reflects their evolution from the EFL to the Premier League.

Bruce, a boyhood Sunderland fan, has done a fine job of repairing a fractured relationship between the fanbase and club. A record deal with Hummel has proved overwhelmingly popular. But with squad cost ratio rules that pin Sunderland to spending 85 per cent of their revenue in the future, the club have felt a need to take commercial deals to the “next level”.

All eyes are on the next front-of-shirt sponsor, with global brands interested in striking a deal.

As Tom Burwell, now installed as the club’s new interim chief executive, said last year: “We have to be Premier League ready to compete, both on and off-the-field.

“[We need] the best footballers in the world but we also need to be Premier League ready off-the-field to compete with the best sports executives in the world for commercial and digital eyeballs.”

Staying up is a good start but the ownership see Sunderland’s next objective as becoming an established part of the top flight, before challenging for honours and competing for Europe.

The changes have come thick and fast in the last six months. Bruce follows head of recruitment Stuart Harvey, chief commercial officer Ashley Peden and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman as high-profile exits in the last six months. A new chief revenue officer and chief executive are set to be in place before the start of next season.

Read more

• Mark Douglas: Sunderland’s ‘£120m PSR headroom’ – and what it means for transfers
• Kevin Garside: Thomas Tuchel is undoing all of Gareth Southgate’s good work with England

They will inherit a club in good health. Director of football Florent Ghisolfi suggested this week that Sunderland would not repeat the wide-ranging recruitment drive of 12 months ago but the position within the SCR rules is understood to give them further room to invest this summer. A striker is among their priorities.

The club’s model means that outgoings, while not essential to comply with the new rules, will also be considered. The i Paper understands that a Champions League club is interested in goalkeeper Robin Roefs while Noah Sadiki’s excellent debut season in England has also made him a target.

Sunderland have shown before that they do not fear the prospect of selling top players for a premium. The challenge is to retain their upward momentum.

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And so Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly wept, not for there were no worlds left to conquer but because so much money had been spent trying while all the time getting a little worse.

Chelsea’s powerbrokers, we have long been told, arrived as smooth business operators with licences to disrupt, to shake the Premier League like a giant with a snow globe, to watch European football burn at the grandness of their ambition.

A record has indeed been broken: Chelsea posted the highest annual losses in Premier League history, blowing those plucky upstarts the actual United Arab Emirates out of the water. They also topped the list of fees paid to agents for the third consecutive year. Because nobody needs to be convinced on this super-massive super-project, but money sure does sweeten things.

Clearly this all passes comment on Chelsea themselves. It has been a tricky fortnight PR-wise, when you add in the revelations over secret payments (that somehow passed by without sporting sanctions) and former owner Roman Abramovich’s determination to spend the seized funds how he, and not the UK Government, sees fit.

This gold-plated, galaxy brain spend-a-rama under the banner of disruption is essentially subtitled “You’ve all been doing it wrong – we are the future”. And… maybe. But there is something about spending a billion quid on long contracts for young players to build a team with insufficient experience and weaknesses in key positions, and appointing your manager from a deliberately reduced shortlist of one, that raises the odd question.

This is also a defining moment for football too; a line in the sand for financial indecency. Despite the extreme annual loss, Chelsea will not exceed profitability and sustainability limits. They made a significant profit in the previous financial year, you see. Related: they sold their women’s team to a subsidiary company for almost £200m.

How can any financial rules be worth the paper they are written on if losing £262m – north of £700,000 a day – does not trigger an automatic brake? And how can any outsider hope to break into this VIP party when a club with £491m in annual revenue can lose that much and still crack on?

You will remember that Nottingham Forest and Everton are the only two competing Premier League clubs to have received sporting sanctions for Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) breaches. For Everton, it punished a clear overreaching by careless owners. For Forest, a demand to consolidate after a promotion earned with a large core of loan players.

So maybe Everton and Forest are the fools for failing to understand that the real sport is finding loopholes that increase your spending power. This week, Newcastle United sold St James’ Park to themselves for a reported £172m. Aston Villa have done that and their women’s team. Everton have now sold the women’s team too, proof that they are catching up to speed. It is the most common refrain you hear, plucked straight from primary school argument: well they started it.

If the ultimate aim here is to ensure competition within the Premier League without any club spending beyond a level that makes economic emergency possible or probable, how can these end results possibly make sense? If you pay the price for not exploiting loopholes that are soon to be barred, and if clubs suffer as a result of staying within their own lane, the system itself is bunk.

Read more

Daniel Storey: England have a serious Harry Kane problem

Pete Hall: England’s three winners and five losers from dire World Cup warm-ups

We all have our own “game’s gone” moments; supporters celebrating their club losing ownership control of its own stadium because it allows greater spending on players is mine. Women’s teams used as pawns to enable the budget of the men’s team to grow is another. How did we get here, when long-termism and tradition are abandoned so quickly?

It can never stop: you spend more on transfer fees, wages and agents so the elite few clubs simply do the same to maintain their gap. So those fees are inflated to match the rise in demand and budgets. So those below the top division also spend more, desperate to be part of the same conversation. So the fragility of the entire pyramid grows exponentially.

The whole thing is gross, indicative of a Monopoly money culture and ballooning without anyone stopping to consider whether it’s for the best.

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The international football friendly falls somewhere between a waste of time and player abuse. Thomas Tuchel turned England’s final engagement before the announcement of his World Cup squad into an audition, which proved even more counterproductive.

Tuchel’s first XI is pretty much set, save perhaps for the left side, where Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon jostle to start and behind them Nico O’Reilly fends off the late challenge of the rapidly evolving Lewis Hall, who brought the left byline consistently into play for the first time in the match during his second half cameo.

The defeat to Japan mirrored the draw against Uruguay in failing to inform Tuchel or entertain the fans. England players left the pitch to boos from those seats that were still occupied, and with a feeling of despondency ahead of the World Cup, which was not quite the brief when Tuchel signed his contract extension two months ago.

Instead of an audition, which served only to hike the tension for creatives like Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers, none of whom were remotely effective, Tuchel should have sent out the players in party hats and with bells and whistles, anything to lift the mood around the England scene.

When was the last time you saw an England player smile? Nobby Stiles, I’m guessing. Palmer and Foden had the bearing of kids forced to run the school cross country in their dad’s old trainers. Even watching England play on dead Tuesdays is the opposite of cool, the players and fans feeding off the suffocating ennui.

Tuchel was brought in to solve the ancient riddle of English failure dating back 60 years. We have argued ourselves to the outer rings of Saturn and back over the reasons why a succession of talented squads have returned home potless, leaving us to conclude that the players are just not good enough.

If Tuchel’s predecessor, Gareth “no-risk” Southgate, got one thing right, it was to make an English footballer a cool thing to be again, to restore in the players a sense of pride and worth that gave them half a chance of justifying themselves. As a consequence, England bounced into a World Cup semi-final and back-to-back Euro finals. 

It was Southgate’s innate caution that ultimately held England back, inhibition and fear taking hold against opponents who instead of shrinking seemed to embrace the experience, unencumbered by the “weight of the shirt”.

Perhaps placing a very serious man in charge of a team in need of laughs was always going to run into this problem, Tuchel’s instincts adding layers of responsibility instead of catalysing a lightness of being.

An anecdote from a Marbella restaurant from a friend at an adjacent table to Xavi. As a good Gooner, he could not resist. And I quote: “Downtime over the summer then post World Cup he takes the Spain job. He has Spain down to win the World Cup, of course, and he insisted it’s Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal for the Champions League, although I said Paris Saint-Germain vs Barcelona. He thinks England have great players but he’s seen first-hand they play with fear.”

It was noticeable in Berlin how Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams lit up the Olympiastadion with their smiles as much as their fleet foot work down the flanks, as if they were dribbling round their mates in the playground.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: England have a serious Harry Kane problem
• Pete Hall: My England XI to start the World Cup – including Trent and Maguire

Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe and Mo Salah are other exemplars of the type, players unafraid to have a pop, who break into song when they score and even giggle when they hit the corner flag. There was none of that at Wembley on Tuesday night, at least not among those in white.

Palmer and Foden in particular appeared laboured and stressed, denied access to their best selves by the absurdity of being asked to prove themselves worthy. These are self-evidently good players. To claim they fall short technically when for the most part they have shone in elite company is ridiculous.

Tuchel can’t take ‘em all, of course, but he has a duty to ease the passage of those on the plane by making the World Cup fun, something to enjoy. If he pulls that off we might have something to celebrate, and an “I told you so” or two to serve Xavi whenever you are next in Marbs.

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Newcastle United’s planned summer squad overhaul will be hugely influenced by their pressing need to comply with Uefa’s suffocating financial rules.

The i Paper understands that Newcastle are at risk of breaching Uefa’s squad cost ratio rules (SCR), which are stricter than the Premier League’s financial fair play system, only allowing for spending 70 per cent of club revenue on agents fees, wages and transfers.

Football finance expert Stefan Borson believes a fine of between £4m-£8.7m is the most likely outcome, with Newcastle in discussions with Uefa regarding their finances for the period up to June 2025.

But if they continue to breach the rules they face much higher fines and even the prospect of being barred from European competition.

That is why despite the financial backing of majority owners Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and minority shareholders the Reuben brothers, the club cannot just spend, spend, spend.

Player sales expected

The Magpies are contemplating sales of some of their big players to allow them to buy the goalkeeper, right-back, midfielder and striker viewed as essential to freshening up the squad.

There is money at hand, insiders stress. But they have to finally develop a trading strategy to move out of a cycle of big spends and then fallow transfer windows.

“We have to move from a model of just acquiring players,” chief executive David Hopkinson admitted on Monday. “Buy well and sell well” was his more succinct summary, hinting at a significant pivot from the strategy of buying experienced Premier League performers for big prices.

Uefa’s rules come into force if you are playing in Europe, as the Magpies have been this season.

Given that they are not allowed to count the £172.1m profit from the sale of St James’ Park and land adjacent to the stadium to a company owner by the club’s shareholders, they could also fall foul of Uefa’s rule that only allows losses over a three-year period of €60m (£52m). The club will hope that the sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a British record £125m helps on that front.

Aston Villa and Chelsea reached settlements with Uefa last summer which, in Villa’s case, included them agreeing to maintain a positive transfer balance. That meant banking more in sales than they spent – which, ironically, helped Newcastle to sign midfielder Jacob Ramsey.

What it means for the summer

Remember the days when a manager would be backed by a transfer “war chest”? That era is long gone. Putting a hard and fast number on a recruitment budget is much more difficult these days. Instead it is about creating enough headroom in their finances to allow spending on players.

Newcastle will need to do two things to mount a decent recruitment drive this summer; manage the cost of the squad they have got and comply with a patchwork of Premier League and Uefa rules.

Each Newcastle player has a cost attached to them, which comprises of their salary plus the value of their contract amortised over the length of the deal. So Nick Woltemade – signed for £69m on a contract of £120,000-per-week for six years – has a cost of roughly £11.6m a year.

If you sell him it creates £11.6m of headroom as well as whatever profit you might make on the deal. With that breathing space you could sign a player for £45m on £160,000-a-week.

“This is the point of trading,” explains Simon Capper, Newcastle’s chief finance officer. He was not, it must be stressed, talking about Woltemade.

“You can’t just stack salaries forever. If you have 50 players and they’re all costing you £20m a year, that’s £1bn in squad cost. That’s never going to work so you have to have a one in, one out almost to try and balance that squad cost to the number you can afford.”

So how much could they spend?

Newcastle have some leeway thanks to Isak’s £125m sale, but they have to be cautious and strategic.

“Buying well does not necessarily mean spending the most money,” Hopkinson said. “It means working in the market place for the players that generate the most value for this club rather than the fee paid for them.”

Newcastle want to lower the average age of the squad and seem set to dig into the European market more extensively than before.

Transfer targets

The signing of highly-rated 16-year-old Ecuadorian forward Johan Martinez, who will join from Independiente del Valle when he turns 18, is a sign of things to come.

Lens goalkeeper Robin Risser, 21 and a France youth international, is an option to challenge Nick Pope next season.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told The i Paper a net spend of around £100m is “realistic”. He noted this was the first time Newcastle had an average wage of £100,000 across the board and felt “in general” the finances were moving in the right direction.

But Newcastle’s stadium sale will not help them and they cannot sell to PIF-owned Saudi clubs either. Those transfers do not count in Uefa rules.

Will it affect Howe’s future?

Given the latest finances, last summer’s spending feels even stranger – spending £55m on Yoane Wissa was almost incomprehensible given how long he will be part of squad costs. They cannot continue in that vein.

Hopkinson’s equivocal backing of Eddie Howe opens up the possibility there may be a change in the dugout, too.

Read more

• Mark Douglas: Inside ‘Newcastle 2.0’ – with big exits and Howe review planned
• Mark Douglas: Bruno Guimaraes to Man Utd rumours are a sign of things to come for Newcastle

It is unthinkable in some ways – he has overseen a period of huge success – but does he have the desire to absorb more star players leaving and a pivot to a different type of incoming? Might Howe himself take a look at the next part of the project and the growing sense of unease in the fanbase and decide to look elsewhere?

Sources insist he is seen as part of the solution. But the reality is Newcastle – and Howe – do not have any choice but to change course.

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It has not been a good week for England manager Thomas Tuchel. A 35-man camp and two games against beatable opposition, at home, were meant to help him pick who should be heading to the World Cup this summer.

Instead, widespread ineptitude, injury concerns and failed experimentation has given him an almighty headache less than two months before his summer squad announcement.

The past few days of mediocrity did at least help Tuchel rule out some who blew their chance to make a last-minute claim for a starting spot against Croatia on 17 June, the big winners being those who did not kick a ball against Uruguay and Japan.

Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford

Pickford’s starting position cannot really be called into question. James Trafford is an able understudy but he is short of regular action and looked a little shaky at times against Uruguay. There is not a plethora of experienced heads in this England camp, so the Everton stopper’s knowhow will be vital.

Right-back: Trent Alexander-Arnold

Alexander-Arnold’s omission from the latest England camp caused bafflement. But Tuchel has said all along this was about getting an opportunity to see what else is out there. Now we know, and a team devoid of any semblance of guile and ingenuity needs the best English passer of a football in the side. The Premier League might be averse to creative thinkers this season, but in Spain, Alexander-Arnold is still free to do what he does best. Just in time to help create chances for his country this summer.

Centre-back: Harry Maguire

At this stage, it is by no means a given Maguire will go to the United States. Tuchel, somewhat unnecessarily, admitted the Manchester United veteran is well down the pecking order currently, but overcoming adversity is nothing new for a resurgent Maguire. No English central defender has the experience Maguire possesses, is in as good form and, more pertinently, plays with anything like the same desire when pulling on the England.

Centre-back: Marc Guehi

This is arguably the weakest set of centre-backs England has produced in history, where Marc Guehi, who is yet to really find his feet at Manchester City, is the automatic starter, without hesitation. Playing alongside Ezri Konsa, in a major tournament, hardly inspires confidence, but next to Maguire, Guehi has the perfect example to follow.

Left-back: Nico O’Reilly

Perhaps against stronger opposition, Tuchel may elect to go with a left-back option who is stronger defensively than O’Reilly, but his emergence this season as one of those Pep Guardiola full-backs with a penchant for cutting inside and offering a real attacking threat has to propel the City youngster to the forefront of the German’s plans. Especially for a team whose natural default is to be difficult to beat, rather than on the front foot.

Defensive midfield: Declan Rice

Rice’s absence was hard-felt over the past few games, despite the plentiful other alternatives in central midfield. The Arsenal star is one of the few genuinely world-class options available to England. The only concern is burnout, after a brutal season competing for honours on four fronts for the Gunners.

Defensive midfield: Elliot Anderson

An absolute shoo-in. Anderson is ubiquitous and can form the most formidable midfield pairing in the entire tournament this summer. The Nottingham Forest star can do everything, and his all-action style, as we saw in spells against Japan, could be the difference between success and failure this summer.

Attacking midfield: Jude Bellingham

The biggest winner from the past few games, without kicking a ball. Bellingham has barely featured for Tuchel, mainly due to injury, and the fact there are a myriad of alternatives available in that coveted role off Harry Kane. The Real Madrid star’s stock soared as the minutes went by against Uruguay and Japan. Phil Foden, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer have all lost their mojo, at the most crucial times. One of the toughest calls to make just became much more straightforward.

Right wing: Bukayo Saka

Hardly in the form of his life, Saka also benefitted from others flattering to deceive against Uruguay and Japan. Saka is also one of the more experienced members of the team that will stand him in good stead this summer. It could be quite the few months for the Arsenal star.

Left wing: Marcus Rashford

The only spot in the forward line up for debate should go to Rashford. Anthony Gordon will be many other’s pick, but having offered nothing against Japan, amid a middling campaign for Newcastle, he simply does not deserve a starting berth against Croatia. Rashford needs minutes between now and June, which he should get at Barcelona after Raphinha’s injury. Even if only sparingly, Rashford offered the only willingness to run at defenders over the past few games – endeavour that should earn him the call.

Striker: Harry Kane

Never has England depended on one man more in history. Wrap Kane up in cotton wool, as any injury could cause a national collapse to dwarf anything a fuel shortage could conjure. It is not hyperbolic to suggest how Kane performs this summer will decide how deep England go.

Pete Hall’s England XI to start the World Cup

• 4-2-3-1: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Maguire, Guehi, O’Reilly, Anderson, Rice, Bellingham, Saka, Rashford, Kane

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Do you remember that weird six-month period, which unhelpfully included Euro 2024, when people seriously thought that England needed to move on from Harry Kane and that things would improve as a result? And by “improve”, they meant England would do better than a run of semi-final, final, quarter-final, final at major tournaments. Halcyon days, my friends.

It has been a difficult week for that particular take to avoid ageing like milk left out in the summer sun. Watching Dominic Solanke (four touches in the penalty area, no shots on target) and Phil Foden (one touch in the penalty area, no shots on target) labour against mid-ranking opponents, the only possible conclusion was “I’d quite like that bloke who scores all of our goals back”.

Kane is currently enjoying his season mirabilis, amid some competition. He has scored 53 goals in 45 matches for Bayern Munich and England. He is a legitimate Ballon D’Or contender with good reason. It is quite possible that the best footballer in the world right now is English. It is quite possible that this is the first time ever that England has possessed the best footballer in the world.

Which is all good news, except when Kane isn’t there or isn’t fully fit. England ostensibly have a low-block problem that has existed for at least two years when they face opponents weak enough to sacrifice territory but strong enough to be good at either deep defending, counter-attacking or both. Which covers quite a lot of national teams.

Kane has been the antidote to that issue. Not because he does not get consumed by it (there have been many occasions, through a lack of service or Kane dropping very deep, where it has caused a problem), but because he retains an unerring ability to turn a quarter chance into a half chance like nobody else of his nationality can.

Since the last European Championship, Kane has not started in five England matches: won two, lost two, drew one. He has started 13 and England have won 12 of them. In the exception (Senegal at the City Ground), Kane scored the opening goal and was substituted at 1-1 before England conceded twice more.

In 2017, Pep Guardiola received some north London opprobrium for describing Tottenham Hotspur as “The Harry Kane team”. It was intended more as a compliment to the individual than a slight on the XI, but Mauricio Pochettino felt it disrespectful to Kane’s teammates.

Nine years later, and in the same complimentary terms England’s team is the same. Declan Rice is brilliant and important at progressing the ball and winning it back. Bukayo Saka is still the best winger. Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi are of vital consequence defensively.

But Kane is by a vast distance the bellwether of the collective. He will determine how far England go in North America. And it was his struggles at Euro 2024 that made getting to the final a magnificent achievement rather than a stick to beat the then-manager hard with in public. Not everything is tactical; sometimes you just need your best player to be at their best.

Read more

Pete Hall: England’s three winners and five losers from dire World Cup warm-ups

Daniel Storey: England’s band of misfits failed their World Cup audition

Is it a problem that England’s most important player turns 33 this summer? Maybe. This is a long domestic season, Kane has suffered a couple of injuries and the USA is going to be disgustingly hot for football. It hardly helps that England’s striker cupboard is bare, to the extent that neither of the two backups from Euro 2024 – Watkins and Toney – were in the 35-man squad in March.

There’s also a slight irony to all this. England spent years playing catch-up on the technical revolution and the coaching revolution and have done fine work on both counts. And now, as the game appears to have largely moved on from the traditional No 9 to the multifunctional, fast wide forward, England have the best No 9 in the game.

But this is the hand that England have been dealt and we should dwell on the positives. It can never be a bad thing to have the best in the world at what they do. If missing Kane highlights the deep flaws, having him back should provide a double dose of comfort. Kane can still come back and crown the best year of his career at his final World Cup. Just don’t have him on corners this time.

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England 0-1 Japan (Mitoma 23′)

WEMBLEY — This was supposed to convince the country to believe. Instead age-old concerns over England’s modus operandi of glorious failures in major tournaments reared their ugly heads once more.

Thomas Tuchel named a large, experimental squad for the final two domestic friendlies before the World Cup, against Uruguay and Japan, to give him one last chance to allow some peripheral figures a chance to stake their claim for a squad spot.

Some, however, did those chances more harm than good.

Winners

James Garner

In one of the few areas England are well stocked in, James Garner was not even in Tuchel’s vernacular a few months ago.

One match into his England career and the German now regards the Everton metronome as his own “mini-Valverde”. Comparing Garner to one of the most in-form midfielders in Europe suggests a strong impression has been made in the past week.

The former Manchester United midfielder offers something more marquee names in the England team do not – a genuine anchor option. It remains to be seen if Tuchel desires that additional defensive protection. Should he do so, ahead of perhaps Adam Wharton, Garner could get the unexpected call.

Marcus Rashford

A big end to the season could be in the offing for Marcus Rashford. One, after the vitriol that came his way as his Manchester United career ended so acrimoniously, that could see him a player reborn.

After the perfect start to his Barcelona loan, Rashford has found himself on the periphery of late. Raphinha’s injury will change all that. Game time that could convince Tuchel, already a Rashford aficionado, to select the 28-year-old, in the only role of England’s forward line – the left-hand side – that is up for grabs.

One meandering run against Uruguay was enough. Despite Rashford plundering 30 goals as a United central striker a few years ago, he has, throughout his career, looked more at home on the flank. The floor is now his, with his competitors flattering to deceive for club and country, to convince Tuchel what he appears to already know.

Jude Bellingham

Without kicking a ball, there can be no doubt that Jude Bellingham has to start against Croatia on 17 June. Even the Wembley DJ agreed after his decision to play the Beatles classic as the soundtrack to England’s lap of dishonour to an almost empty stadium following the Japan loss.

While Tuchel insists there is no problem with Bellingham after some negative press suggested the contrary last year, these two matches should leave Tuchel with the ultimate clarity: the alternatives just don’t even come close.

Phil Foden is a shadow of his former self, Morgan Rogers’ decline is real, while Cole Palmer has worryingly lost his pizzazz. This has been the most frustrating campaign in terms of injury for Bellingham, but all he needs to do is stay fit between now and the summer and that role off Harry Kane is his.

Losers

Thomas Tuchel

Two matches, zero lessons learned. The experiments didn’t work, a Ben White controversy emerged out of nowhere, players pulling out again became endemic, over-rotation stifled any hopes of fluidity, all while the only point proven was that never has an England attack been so dependent on one man.

These matches were not only a chance for Tuchel to give potential squad options their moment to shine, but an opportunity to settle on a starting XI. By deploying what was not even a B-team against Uruguay, the German was left with more questions than answers over who deserves a spot on the plane, while learning nothing about his potential starting line-up.

“This camp will not define us,” Tuchel said after the Japan loss. Offering some semblance of reassurance.

Against Japan, Tuchel went with a false nine – Foden – and rarely has an England side looked so impotent in attack. Not now, Thomas. A winning formula from qualification is in danger of being ruined.

Harry Maguire

When sitting down with Harry Maguire at St George’s Park last week, the feeling of pride was palpable. Back in the England fold again, after all he has been through in recent years, on and off the pitch.

When he said it doesn’t matter if he played one minute or every second at the World Cup, as long as he could contribute in some way to England’s success he would be a happy man, you believed him. The sort of desire you want in your squad.

For Tuchel to publicly admit Maguire has an uphill battle to even win a seat on the plane after a Uruguay draw the United centre-back was one of England’s better players in, insisting he is even behind Trevor Chalobah, was an unnecessary blow even the resurgent veteran will struggle to come back from.

Phil Foden

There needs to be a public inquiry into what has happened to Phil Foden. This is the juncture in his career when he should have fulfilled all that promise to become the most exciting England midfielder since Paul Gascoigne.

Instead, Foden continues to look lost. Something happened to Foden at Euro 2024. After being crowned Player of the Year as City stormed to a fifth Premier League title in six, the City firebrand had a wretched tournament and hasn’t looked the same since.

Mainly down to others withdrawing, an undeserving Foden was handed two successive starts against Uruguay and Japan. One final chance to show us this once generational talent has not lost his way. He emerged having barely had the ball under control once. He should not even make the World Cup squad, never mind the starting XI.

Cole Palmer

Perhaps it is the Premier League’s fault. All these talented attacking players are just being stifled by set pieces and attritional football. Palmer is no exception.

He should be guaranteed a squad place, but that was not the point of these final domestic friendlies before the World Cup for Palmer.

The Chelsea forward’s versatility makes him a possible option in a variety of roles. His limp displays against Uruguay and Japan means a summer watching on from the sidelines could lie in wait. Like many others, Palmer just does not offer enough to stake a claim to be an important part of Tuchel’s plans.

Dominic Solanke

None of the Kane understudies excelled themselves over the past few days, but Dominic Solanke was perhaps the one with the biggest point to prove.

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As Tottenham’s season has lurched from one disaster to the next, England duty must have felt like holiday camp for Solanke, as he unexpectedly led the line – over more deserving names – against Uruguay.

Like everything else in this nadir-filled campaign, Solanke somehow emerged from these friendlies with even more reputational damage than he has already endured this term. With others scoring more goals domestically, other summer plans should be considered in the Solanke household.

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