‘I know for a fact…’: Ferdinand makes confident United/Tuchel admission after England confirm appointment

Earlier today, Manchester United saw first-choice managerial candidate Thomas Tuchel announced as the new head coach of England.

When the German officially takes the reins at the beginning of 2025, he will become only the third foreign manager of the national team, following the late Sven-Goran Eriksson (Swedish) and Fabio Capello (Italian).

His appointment has drawn mixed reviews from Three Lions supporters. As for the Old Trafford faithful, they’re now growing concerned over the lack of available managers to potentially succeed Erik ten Hag, as he is again on the brink of what’s been deemed an ‘inevitable’ sacking.

Tuchel has a host of United players to utilise

United’s England-representing cohort will also be mulling over their chances of being called up by Tuchel. In the past, Gareth Southgate had been widely criticised for continually including Harry Maguire in his squads amidst the defender’s fluctuating form. That being said, he has always performed at a consistently high level for his nation.

For this month’s international break, only Kobbie Mainoo got the call from Lee Carsley to take part in the team’s Nations League double-header before he subsequently withdrew with a fitness concern.

Luke Shaw has been a mainstay under Southgate, though even he had to try and navigate the left-back’s frequent injury layoffs – more recently at the Euros in the summer, where Shaw was only able to make two substitute appearances and one start throughout their journey to the final. 

The likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount have both had to adjust to being overlooked in the past year. However, the latter made the most appearances of any English player (87) during Tuchel’s Chelsea tenure while also notching an impressive 19 goals and 19 assists (per Transfermarkt). He famously assisted Kai Havertz with a tremendous pass in the 2021 Champions League final as the Blues overturned Manchester City 1-0 in Porto to lift their second title. 

As such, Rio Ferdinand believes that Mount’s international teammates will have undoubtedly been contacting him today to gauge insight into Tuchel’s management style. Reacting to the news on his YouTube channel, he said: “I know for a fact these players will be sitting there ringing each other saying ‘what’s he like?’. Mason, Mason Mount, what’s he like?

“[Bukayo] Saka at his club with Kai Havertz, 100%, they’re calling these guys. Declan Rice will be doing the same. They’ll be calling all of their mates who played under him and going, ‘Listen, man, what was he like?’ and what type of player he wants, that’s what the conversations will be.”