Thomas Tuchel: ‘Serial winner’ Jordan Henderson embodies what I want to build

Thomas Tuchel has defended the surprise selection of “serial winner” Jordan Henderson in his first England squad and revealed even the veteran midfielder thought his international career was over.

Gareth Southgate’s permanent successor raised eyebrows with his first squad since taking charge after handing out some eye-catching call-ups, for new faces and familiar ones, along with some surprising omissions.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18, and Dan Burn, 32, received their maiden call-ups for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia, while Marcus Rashford and Reece James were recalled after long periods out of the international set-up.

But it was 34-year-old midfielder Henderson’s inclusion that has caused the most debate, given his England career looked over and he has started only one Ajax match in the last month.

“Why (call up) Jordan? I think this is a pretty easy one,” Tuchel said. “Jordan is, first of all, a serial winner.

“What he brings to every team is leadership, his character, personality, energy. He makes sure that everyone lives by the standards.

“With this characteristic, he embodies everything we are trying to build.”

Henderson last appeared for England in November 2023, which looked likely to be his 81st and final cap having been left out of Southgate’s provisional Euro 2024 squad.

The midfielder caused controversy that year as the high-profile supporter of LGBTQ+ rights joined Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia, where same-sex relationships are illegal.

Henderson subsequently apologised for any hurt caused, but was booed by some on his most recent Wembley appearances for England and joined Ajax in January 2024.

Asked if the midfielder thought he had played his last game for the national team, Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Yes, he wondered that himself some weeks ago when I called him, and he was not shy to express that.

“If you saw the reaction yesterday when I called him in person to tell him that he should come on Monday to camp, it was then you know instantly that you picked the right person.

“The pride to be back for England and to be in an England camp with an age of 30-plus, with 80-plus caps, is one of a kind. It’s outstanding.”

Henderson posted an image of the squad list with a heart and St George’s cross on Instagram, where Rashford uploaded a photo of himself in an England top reading “never stop believing, can’t wait to get started”.

The 27-year-old forward, like Henderson, was omitted from Southgate’s provisional Euro 2024 and has kicked on from his “unpickable” form at Manchester United since joining Aston Villa on loan.

“I felt that Marcus had a huge impact since he since he changed to Aston Villa,” Tuchel said. “He made a huge impact from the bench, mostly from the bench.

“The impact was impressive, the physical impact was impressive and, most importantly, the impact against the ball, his work rate, his defensive effort, his hard work in counter pressing, his tracking back on his position, was impressive.

“I had the strong feeling that we should nominate him, we should bring him in, to push him to stay on that level, to not fall back in old routines. It was very impressive.

“This camp is to bond with him, to get to know him, and push him to stay on exactly that level.”

Tuchel namechecked James Maddison, Conor Gallagher, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jacob Ramsey and Jarrad Branthwaite as players that could count themselves unlucky to miss out.

Jack Grealish also missed out and Tuchel confirmed that Harry Kane will remain England captain ahead of a camp when Lewis-Skelly will be the youngest player.

“It feels a little bit like we fast-forward a career that is already on a fast pace,” Tuchel said of the 18-year-old.

“I can assure you that the talks in the last days and weeks had a kind of a parental vibe, a bit of a protective vibe, to feel like maybe we should not nominate him to protect him a little bit, to not skip the under-21s, to let him go to the under-21s where he is a little bit out of the spotlight.

“Is this maybe even our responsibility to not take him? But in the end with injuries and the quality and the maturity he showed in the matches, we decided to take him.”