The English manager Thomas Tuchel has warned that he will not take “unprofessional risks” by resting players to the benefit of their club pages.
The Club VS Country Battle has been fighting for years and domestic trainers understandably want their players as fit and fresh as possible for their own use. Tuchel himself was on this page and Pep Guardiola was in the past of players who were violated in international duty.
But when he gave his new side of the argument, Tuchel aimed an excavation to the Arsenal boss Mikel Areta when he explained that club managers could not have it in both directions.
“In view of the fact that Declan Rice had played with Arsenal after a 7-1 leg in the next game, I didn’t feel that they think so much about us,” said Tuchel, referring to the midfielder of Gunners, who was essentially a Champions League tot against PSV Eindhoven this month.
“So I don’t think we have to break our heads over it,” he added.
“I take care of the players. We take care of the schedule. But it would be the wrong signal to tell the players: ‘You have hard games, so I rest.’ We have a qualification game to play, we do what is good for us, we monitor you, we have contact with the clubs and we will not take any unprofessional risks.
“I feel responsible for the players. I don’t want the player to be hurt. I want the players to play the quarter -finals of the Champions League because I want to look at it. We take care of us and the clubs take care of themselves and the focus is on the players.”
England continues its 2026 qualification campaign against Latvia on Monday evening.