Thomas Tuchel brands England player 'unprofessional' after phone call announcing his selection

An England player has claimed Thomas Tuchel described him as ‘unprofessional’ after being called up to the Three Lions squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.

Tuchel, 51, was appointed as England’s head coach in October 2024 but did not officially undertake his new role until January 2025 – although he has yet to take charge of a match.

However, on Friday 21 March he will finally get to see his players in action when they host Albania at Wembley before returning to the national stadium three days later to face Latvia.

The former Chelsea boss has named several surprise picks in his first squad with Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah, and Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson being two of the unexpected picks.

However, another shock pick has claimed that he had to apologise to the England boss after the German claimed it was “unprofessional” that he was awake after 10 pm.

The player in question is Newcastle United’s Dan Burn, who recently received his first-ever international call-up.

“The manager FaceTimed us on Tuesday and said that they were debating calling us (me) up, and would let us know on Thursday,” Burn said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Dan Burn in England training (Credit:Getty)

“Then it got to six o’clock Thursday night, (I had) not heard anything so I said to my wife, ‘nothing’s going to happen’.

“I got a text saying ‘are you still awake’ at 10. I was like yes, straight away.

“First of all, he said I was very unprofessional for not being in bed for 10 o’clock, so I apologised for that.”

Of course, Tuchel likely said this in jest.

As for Burn, he has had one of the best weeks of his footballing career, having scored Newcastle’s opening goal in their 2-1 win against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday which ended their 70-year domestic trophy drought.

“He [Tuchel] just said he needed to end the day on a good note, that he wanted us to be in the squad, just to do what he felt my strengths were, which I explained when I spoke to him,” Burn added.

The Magpies’ defender also explained how he was not there to “be a cheerleader” and claimed that he wanted to play.