‘Immature and stupid’ – Thomas Tuchel criticised for glaring omission from England World Cup qualifying squad

Troy Deeney has declared that Thomas Tuchel was ‘immature and stupid’ when omitting Ivan Toney from his list of striker options for England.

Harry Kane has started at No.9 in all five of Tuchel’s matches as Three Lions boss, including their 2-0 win over Andorra on Saturday evening.

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However, the Bayern Munich star couldn’t add to his record 73 goals as he managed just two shots in a drab performance across the pitch.

Given he’s England captain, Kane is set for move involvement during the rest of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Tuchel was asked about whether he had enough striker options at his disposal after the victory against Andorra.

“Yes, we have a lot of options,” he confirmed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Serbia. “We have Ollie [Watkins], we have Harry, Marcus [Rashford] can play there.

“Jarrod Bowen can play there, Anthony Gordon played there for Newcastle. I think so. Phil Foden can play in the nine, Morgan Rogers can play in the nine.

“Let’s see who catches form and catches fire in the Premier League, or wherever and starts scoring. But yes we have enough firepower there.”

Appearing on Hawksbee and Jacobs, talkSPORT’s Deeney spoke on how former Brentford star Toney was not part of Tuchel’s thinking.

The 29-year-old scored 30 goals in 44 appearances during his debut season with Al Ahli and has five strikes in four matches this term, but could miss out on the World Cup squad.

“I think that’s a personality clash, isn’t it?” ex-Watford skipper Deeney suggested. “I think the fact that he’s said that is immature and stupid anyway, in my opinion.

“Because, you’ve not mentioned one striker there, not an out-and-out striker, from Rashford to Rogers all the way through.

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“So basically, what he’s letting you know there, is he’s probably going to go to the tournament with two [strikers], Harry and Ollie Watkins, potentially three with [Liam] Delap at best.

“And if any problems happen, he’s just going to rotate any of those guys up front and then if we lose, guess what, the excuse is already built in, we didn’t have enough strikers.”

Toney’s lack of minutes for England

Toney continues to be overlooked at England despite his scoring success with Brentford, where he netted 36 goals in the Premier League.

He has started in just one of his seven Three Lions appearances – a friendly against Belgium in 2024 during which he scored.

Toney was then part of their Euro 2024 squad and featured three times off the bench, including their final heartbreak against Spain.

Tuchel has played him once during his tenure so far as he brought the forward on in the latter stages of a 3-1 friendly loss to Senegal.

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And Toney missed out on the squad for the ongoing international break, with England back in action on Tuesday night.

They face Serbia in their fifth World Cup qualification match in Group K – live on talkSPORT.

Qualification can’t be confirmed with a victory, but England will be on 15 points and hold an eight-point lead if Latvia beat Albania.