Thomas Tuchel is not expected to attend first division matches to scout players before he begins his role as England head coach on January 1.
The German, who He signed his contract to become Gareth Southgate's long-term successor last week.is not under pressure from the Football Association to have a visible presence at matches or work behind the scenes before the turn of the year. The FA will keep Lee Carsley in caretaker charge for next month's Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, with Tuchel expected to start in January.
The former Bayern Munich manager has made some preparations, having named Anthony Barry as his number 2, and is looking to add figures from his former club Chelsea to his backroom staff. James Melbourne, Chelsea's head of performance analysis, will be able to join the FA on a permanent basis and Tuchel wants to hire goalkeeping coach Hilário.
Hilário, who represented the club as a player before returning as coach, has not decided whether he will join Tuchel. He has told Chelsea that he is not sure about leaving. Chelsea, who have appointed Ben Roberts as overall head of goalkeeping, are aware that they have many figures in their goalkeeping department. It is unclear whether Carsley's assistant Ashley Cole will be part of Tuchel's team.
However, apart from appointments to backroom staff, there is no great sense of urgency. There is a desire to give Carsley space to finish his caretaker role and that means there is very little chance of Tuchel, who will miss the qualifying draw for the 2026 World Cup on December 13, turning up for the matches. club in England before his role officially begins. If he wants to personally monitor the players, he will likely do so after the November international break. It is also unclear when Tuchel will move to England.
The FA is comfortable with the situation despite confusion over why Tuchel is not an immediate starter. It has been stated that the former Chelsea manager will have three months to make decisions about his squad before his first training camp in March.
The 51-year-old showed at Chelsea that he is more than capable of making an instant impact. He won the Champions League four months after being appointed in January 2021. Remaining in Germany would also allow him to keep pace with the performances of Harry Kane and Eric Dier for Bayern Munich.
“We always told Lee he would have three camps and we were very clear that he would lead the Nations League campaign,” FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said on Wednesday. “And when we first spoke to Thomas, he wanted to focus exclusively on the World Cup, so it made sense for both parties for it to start on January 1.”
It is still unclear whether England will play World Cup qualifiers, two friendlies or a playoff for promotion to the Nations League in March. They will avoid a play-off if they can win Group B2, but Carsley's team are in second place after losing to Greece last week. Whether World Cup qualification starts in March or June also depends on the draw.