Jack Grealish and Adam Wharton omitted from Thomas Tuchel's England squad for October internationals
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Updated 03/10/2025 at 11:22 GMT+1
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Thomas Tuchel has named his England squad for the October internationals against Wales and Latvia. Everton forward Jack Grealish and Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton have both missed out on the 24-player camp. Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jude Bellingham are both recovering from injury, while Morgan Rogers, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jordan Henderson are all included.
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Jack Grealish and Adam Wharton have both been left out of Thomas Tuchel's England squad for the October internationals against Wales and Latvia.
Wharton was originally included in Tuchel's squad for FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Andorra and Serbia in September, but withdrew through injury.
John Stones likewise pulled out of the September camp, but has been reinstated in the 24-player group as The Three Lions gear up to face Wales in a friendly and Latvia as part of World Cup qualifying.
Jordan Henderson and Morgan Gibbs-White retain their places, while there is a return for Arsenal talisman Bukayo Saka, who takes the place of injured team-mate Noni Madueke.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jarell Quansah both received late call-ups to Tuchel's previous squad and will remain a part of preparations for the upcoming fixtures.
But there is no space for Everton winger Grealish, who has provided four assists on loan at his new club this season.
England maintained their 100% win record in 2026 World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 victory over Andorra and a 5-0 thrashing of Serbia.
Tuchel's side are yet to concede a goal in their five qualification matches, and the England head coach explained that the performance in Belgrade informed his decision to keep faith in most of that squad.
"It was only three weeks now since the last camp and the last win, last performance," Tuchel said.
"The result was an excellent result and, even more important, it was well deserved from our performance, so we decided very quickly that we want to reward everyone and bring the same group back into camp.
"Teamwork and team spirit and team effort were at the highest level throughout the week. I was so glad that the team proved it in the match.
"We had a big win against a strong opponent in a difficult away match, so the question was why not bring the same group in because they set the standards?"
While the clash against Wales at Wembley will not have any competitive significance, Tuchel was keen to stress that players will be fighting for places on Thursday.
"I can totally understand that people will maybe go and fall into the trap of going into the narrative that it’s only a friendly and then we are almost qualified, and it’s an easy match in Latvia looking at the table, but it’s the opposite," said Tuchel.
"We have to keep going. First of all, it’s Wales, so it’s a derby, it’s emotional and it’s a big crowd in Wembley.
"The competition is on to be in the squad first of all, to be selected; competition is on to be on the pitch and play.
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"Now, it is about creating habits out of the standards that the group set for themselves.
"We want to prove a point that we are ready to take the next steps and build from what we started in the last camp.
"It counts straight away. We go into a World Cup season and the competition is on. The message has not changed. We will use these two matches to take the next steps."
England host Wales on Thursday, October 9 before visiting Latvia on Tuesday, October 14.
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