Thomas Tuchel’s former Chelsea favourite might be one to watch for England breakthrough

Now that Thomas Tuchel is manager of the England national team, it will be interesting to see if he does anything differently in terms of his squad selection, with Crystal Palace defender and Tuchel’s former Chelsea player Trevoh Chalobah perhaps one to watch.

Chalobah made his first-team breakthrough at Stamford Bridge while Tuchel was in charge, with the German tactician previously speaking very highly of the player, who is now on loan at Palace for the season.

It’s fair to say Chalobah has perhaps not progressed as many would’ve hoped, though others might also argue he’s been a bit unlucky not to feature more often in the Chelsea first-team since Tuchel left the club.

This will surely be an important season for the 25-year-old as he looks to impress at Selhurst Park, and with Tuchel now replacing Gareth Southgate as England boss, he might have one eye on finally winning his first senior international cap.

Trevoh Chalobah for England under Thomas Tuchel?

Tuchel once notably praised Chalobah not long after he started to establish himself in the Chelsea first-team, telling TNT Sports: “Two fantastic games played now and played almost every minute in pre-season. He is an humble guy from the academy and was so, so good. He plays with so much confidence, so many good behaviours on the pitch is a pretty perfect afternoon for him.

“You saw how they celebrated with him and these are the stories we love about football, in this game in an exciting league with players from abroad, there is still place for home grown talent at our club and other big clubs.”

England have a lot of options in defence, so it won’t necessarily be easy for Chalobah to rise up the pecking order, but at least in Tuchel he knows there’s a manager there who has previously given him a chance and who clearly rates him.