Bukayo Saka Returns To England National Team, Jude Bellingham And Phil Foden Crossed Out

Winger Bukayo Saka (right) was called up by the England national team, but Jude Bellingham (left) was crossed out. (X/@England)

JAKARTA - Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka has again received a call from the England national team for the 2026 World Cup trial and qualifying matches. But manager Thomas Tuchel dropped Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden, the central line of Manchester City.

Saka is absent from England in two World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia, September 2025. The hamstring injury forced Saka to pull over.

When he recovered and returned to play, Saka immediately showed his ability to break into the Olympiacos goal. He also brought Arsenal to a 2-0 win in the Champions League match.

This 24-year-old player is the choice of manager Mike Arteta to replace Noni Madueke, who suffered a knee injury and was forced to leave the arena until November 2025.

Saka, who was back on strike, received a call from Tuchel when England faced Wales in a trial match at Wembley, Friday, October 10, 2025 in the morning WIB. Furthermore, The Three Lions hosted Latvia in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match.

On the other hand, Tuchel crossed out Bellingham. The deletion of this Real Madrid midfielder seems unexpected. Although he had suffered a shoulder injury and had to undergo surgery, Bellingham has recovered. He has returned to play in La Liga Spain.

Only Bellingham recently rejoined Los Merengues. This is Tuchel's consideration not to include Bellingham.

"What is clear is that he is a special player. As a special player, there are always special rules. But at this training camp, we have the same decision to call the players as before," Tuchel said as quoted by Evening Standard.

For the Jude case, he certainly deserves to join the training camp. However, he recently joined Real Madrid so that he has not yet received the rhythm of the team's game," he said.

Even though he has returned to the team, he hasn't played in full. He's also only started once. So he did need time to rediscover the rhythm of the game and play with really fit conditions," said Tuchel again.

The former Chelsea manager denied any problems with the players who were not called, including Foden and Jack Grealish. However, Tuchel felt the need to contact Bellingham first to say that he was not in the squad this time.

"No, no problem. He really wanted to be called [the England national team]. We have also spoken by telephone," said Tuchel.

I also have no problem with Phil Foden or Jack Grealish. They're all special players," he said.

Foden experienced a decline in performance and was injured. But he has returned to play for Man City.

Meanwhile, Grealish has not achieved the best performance since Everton's loan from The Cityzens. Grealish was no longer called by the national team when handled by interim manager Lee Carsley.

British Squad

Goalkeeper:Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Behind: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City)

Central: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)

Front: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, borrowed from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), total Watkins (Aston Villa)