Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White has been called up to the England squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
However, this wasn’t the case to begin with.
The Nottingham Forest star was initially left out of Thomas Tuchel’s initial squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers with Albania and Latvia.
Gibbs-White was then called up as a replacement for Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer, who was injured in training ahead of the Arsenal match.
Paul Merson has now explained who he’s blaming for Gibbs-White initially being overlooked for a spot in the England squad.
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Paul Merson says contract FA have given Thomas Tuchel is too short
Merson admitted that Gibbs-White’s initial England squad omission was “beyond a joke”, but insisted he wouldn’t blame Tuchel.
Instead, the Premier League legend blamed the FA for it, because they haven’t given Tuchel enough time to build a squad for the future.
“The England squad needs a reset but Thomas Tuchel hasn’t got time for that,” Merson wrote on Sky Sports.
“How Morgan Gibbs-White didn’t get picked originally is just beyond a joke. He’s played the whole season. Marcus Rashford’s played 10 minutes.
“But I’m not blaming Rashford, I’m blaming the FA for the contract that they’ve given Tuchel.
“He can’t afford to keep on looking at squads and seeing if Tom, Dick or Harry’s going to be all right for next year. He needs his team now. He needs to win a World Cup.
“So, what’s he done? He’s just picked the same players because he knows they’re tried and tested, and he hasn’t got to worry.
“He’s done exactly the same which is why Jordan Henderson’s in it. He knows what you’re going to get. Does what it says on the tin.
“And this is the problem, the FA have not given him enough time to look at players for six months.
“Before you know it, the World Cup’s going to be here. Tuchel hasn’t got the time to build and look for the future.
“You look at France, Germany, Spain, they rip it up and start again if it’s not going well.
“They might sacrifice one or two competitions to get over the line the next time. We don’t.”
England are in action against Albania on Friday 21 March (7:45pm kick-off) and against Latvia on Monday 24 March (7:45pm kick-off).
What football icons have been saying about Morgan Gibbs-White
Plenty of footballing figures, including Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, have spoken highly of Gibbs-White in recent months.
“Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga are exceptional players,” Guardiola recently said.
Meanwhile, Peter Crouch said of Gibbs-White after Forest’s recent 7-0 win over Brighton: “He’s a modern-day player.
“Back in our day, players with that ability were almost luxury players.
“But the amount of work he gets through and the pressing – if you want to play a high press he can do that, if you want to sit back he’s transitional and when you win the ball he carries it and invariably picks the right pass.
“[He does] a bit of everything and he does it really well; he can get goals, create goals, he’s very clever in the way he goes down for the penalty – he won’t thank me for saying this – but he accentuates the foul, very intelligent.”
“When I look around the top teams, he could play for absolutely anyone. He’s really enjoying his time here and hopefully that doesn’t stop for a long time, but I genuinely believe he could play for anyone.”
Meanwhile, Gary Lineker previously said of Gibbs-White: “I’ve admired him for years, I’ve always thought he’s got something.”
Lineker described him as: “Sharp, alive, perfect weight of pass. Doesn’t rush, waits for the right moment, always moving, doesn’t get flustered.”
