Thomas Tuchel has described Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defiant four-word message at being left of the England squad as “fair enough” as the Three Lions boss opened up on the reason for leaving him out.

Tuchel named a 35-man squad to take on Uruguay on Friday and then Japan on Tuesday in what will be the players’ last chance to impress for the Three Lions ahead of the World Cup this summer.

Alexander-Arnoldhas made just one appearance under Tuchel and was left out of the squad despite returning to fitness and some form at Real Madrid in recent weeks.

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In response to the snub the former Liverpool star took to Instagram and posted: ‘Madrid. Y nada mas’, which translates to ‘Madrid. And nothing else’.

Tuchel was asked for his views on the post ahead of England’s friendly against Uruguay at Wembley and suggested he wanted “intense” full-backs over the Los Blancos star.

“As a response to being not nominated?” Tuchel asked when made aware of the post. “Well, fair enough, fair enough.

“I think it is a very hard decision that we took. No doubt about his talent, no doubt about his career and what he can give to teams.

“We created a slightly different game model when he was not in camp in September, October, November – it was a game model that was built on intensity and positivity, built even on the profile of the right full back on overlaps, underlaps, very intense.

“It was a slightly different profile of players in camp who performed so well. We just stick to these guys.”

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Tino Livramento and Djed Spence are preferred on the right, while Ben White was drafted in to replace Jarell Quansah in the squad. Reece James is also out injured.

But Tuchel has refused to rule out a spot for Alexander-Arnold in his World Cup squad, vowing to watch him in action for Real Madrid before the end of the season.

‘He was with us in June, he should have maybe deserved a second chance,’ Tuchel said. ‘It is a very hard decision, I am aware of it.

‘I know it creates noise when you leave a player like Trent out. We had a call, I tried to explain the situation. He just has to accept it. It’s just a choice. A ‘sportive’ choice. A difficult choice and maybe a hard choice – and maybe to a certain degree unfair, but these choices have to be made.

“I think I know what Trent can give us, so the choice was for Ben (White) and for Tino Livramento, to stick with the guys who actually had good camps with us in September, November, December. They also need the minutes and there are a lot of good players for this position and Djed Spence as well, who fights for a ticket.

“He took it on his chin, he will keep on going, I will make sure I see some matches from Real Madrid and maybe a Champions League match live to get my last impressions. He is on a long list and everyone is still in the mix but at the moment some other guys are just ahead.”

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