Thomas Tuchel is poised to become England head coach, becoming only the third foreigner to take on one of the most prestigious, scrutinized, and intense jobs in international soccer.
Tuchel quickly agreed to terms with the English Football Association on Tuesday after reports of his emergence as lead candidate surfaced only a day earlier. He is expected to be unveiled at a press conference in London on Wednesday, and will replace Gareth Southgate, who stepped down after England’s defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
After interim coach Lee Carsley had mixed results, the lowlight being a home defeat to Greece in the Nations League last week, FA chiefs locked in on the need for an established high-level name, with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola — on an expiring contract — strongly mentioned.
However, the uncertainty and likely cost of Guardiola, combined with Tuchel’s successful prior relationship with captain Harry Kane at club level, got him the nod.
Tuchel has not worked since leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season after previous stops at Chelsea, Paris St. Germain and Borussia Dortmund. At Dortmund and Chelsea he worked with United States captain Christian Pulisic, with the American performing strongly in Tuchel’s system but never truly feeling he had the coach’s full confidence.
Tuchel, 51, first had contact with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and technical director John McDermott last month, as the federation widened its search and explored a number of options.
He follows Sven Goran Eriksson, who died in August aged 76, and Fabio Capello, as foreign-born England coaches, and is the first to hail from Germany, perhaps the country’s fiercest soccer rival.
Numerous reports in England put Tuchel’s salary at between $5.9 million and $6.5 million annually, which would be a similar range to Southgate’s package. It is a frontline number for a national team position but is well short of what the best club coaches receive.
Tuchel’s previous experience in England, with Chelsea, was an unusual one. He led the team to the Champions League in 2021 but was sacked a year late by new owner Todd Boehly. Yet he departed with his reputation having been enhanced, and events since back up the perception that Boehly’s decision was flawed – and drastically premature.
As for England, the program is in a state of limbo, with the World Cup in North America 20 months away.
It is without question that the Three Lions are currently blessed with one of the most talented pools of players in its history.
Jude Bellingham was La Liga player of the season with Real Madrid, Kane topped the Bundesliga scoring charts for Bayern Munich, while English Premier League-based Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka are genuine superstars.
But the pain of failing to win a major tournament since 1966 remains bitter and ever-present. If anything, coming so close with Southgate, through a penalty defeat to Italy in the 2021 final and losing to Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner for Spain last summer, has intensified the angst.
Tuchel is the next man to be given the key to a job that has proved too much to handle for many. Such is the obsessiveness of the English public toward the national team, so unreasonable the expectations, that it has been described as an impossible job.
Maybe so, but Tuchel is the latest man to take on the challenge. And England is banking on him being the man to make the impossible, possible.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX.
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