Why is Thomas Tuchel not in charge of England yet?

Thomas Tuchel hit the headlines once again in October after he was confirmed as England’s next permanent manager, taking over from Gareth Southgate after eight years at the helm.

Tuchel has been out of work since the summer, having been removed from his post as Bayern Munich manager after missing out on a second-successive Bundesliga title at the expense of Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.

The German was heavily linked to the Manchester United job over the summer as the Ineos regime pondered the future of Erik ten Hag before eventually failing to come to an agreement which would have seen him installed at Old Trafford.

Why is Thomas Tuchel not in charge of England yet?

Thomas Tuchel has a wealth of experience at Europe’s biggest clubs across the past decade (Image credit: Getty)Almost a month has passed since Tuchel’s announcement as Three Lions manager at the time of writing, yet he still hasn’t taken charge of a single game.

Furthermore, Lee Carsley will remain in charge for the upcoming fixtures against Greece and the Republic of Ireland as England see out the remainder of their UEFA Nations League campaign over the next fortnight.

Lee Carsley’s interim spell in charge of England will come to an end after the international break (Image credit: Getty Images)Tuchel’s England reign doesn’t actually begin until the new year, with his official start date set for January 1st 2025 after signing an initial 18-month deal that will take him up to the 2026 World Cup.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham explained the decision to delay Tuchel’s start date, telling reporters: “When we first spoke to him, we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted really well. What was so impressive was his singular focus on us and the World Cup and that project.

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“It made sense for it to start on January 1 and made sense for Lee [Carsley] to finish the campaign in the Nations League. So we’re very comfortable where we are and that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Tuchel, who is ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best managers in the world right now, is a Champions League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 winning manager with over a decade of experience managing in Europe’s elite divisions and has been tasked with building on Gareth Southgate’s foundations to guide England’s latest golden generation to an elusive major trophy.

Upon his appointment, Tuchel explained: “It was important for me to narrow it down into a project and not lose the focus, to start in another competition, the Nations League, then go into qualification and the tournament.

“I wanted to have a clean start and a bit of time to recharge fully and start in January and start the first camp in March.”