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After a month of speculation, reports have revealed that former Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel has signed an agreement with the Football Association to fill in the vacant position of England manager for the next 18 months. Thomas, who hails from Germany, will be the third non-British manager for the England men's team after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. The final confirmation around this development is likely to come out by Wednesday morning with the official press conference scheduled to be held at Wembley.
Since Gareth Southgate left the post vacant after the Three Lions Euro 2024 campaign, Chief Executive Mark Bullingham and Technical Director John McDermott of FA have been having regular discussions with Tuchel for months. According to several reports, the FA had also approached Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. However, things didn't work out.
Thomas Tuchel's impressive track record
Tuchel has had many cat-and-mouse relationships with his bosses earlier but delivered a great job for the team. He was a successful leader when associated with Chelsea and helped the team win the Champions League 2021. Moreover, when managing Stamford Bridge, Tuchel made good relations with the English media, and he was quite popular among football lovers. The 51-year-old carries a promising resume by lifting the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, and UEFA Super Cup with the Blues before getting sacked.
He is also credited with winning the German Cup with Dortmund and two Ligue titles at PSG in 2019-20. Moreover, he led the high-profile as manager of Bayern, but since the club failed to lift the Bundesliga title in 2011-12, he left the role before the contract ended.
Reactions pour in as Tuchel becomes top contender to succeed Gareth Southgate as England’s Manager
Reactions have been pouring in after the reports broke out of Tuchel signing the agreement as the next England Manager. Christian Falk, the head of football for BILD in Germany believes that Tuchel has to find a transition being the manager of club football to England head manager.
"He is not always an easy guy," Falk told BBC Radio 5 Live. "He had problems in Germany with the bosses of the club but in England it was different. He loved the island, and he was accepted more than in Germany and that is why he always wanted to come back. The most problems he has always had is over transfers which club bosses didn't agree to but he won't have that problem with England," Falk added.
On the other hand, Pat Nevin has different views on Tuchel. The former Chelsea defender said, "The thing that really impressed me during his time at Chelsea was his ability to adapt.” "When he was there, he was very much a three centre-backs and wing-backs kind of manager - and that was because he had Marcos Alonso and Reece James as the powerhouses," Nevin added while speaking on Radio 5 Live.
Once the final news comes out this week, it would be interesting to see what Tuchel has in his store. His major target would be leading England to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, taking place in the US, Mexico, and Canada.
