FA holds talks with Tuchel over England manager job

Former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has held talks with the Football Association about becoming the next England manager.

England have been without a permanent manager since Gareth Southgate resigned following the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 final defeat against Spain.

Lee Carsley was placed in charge on an interim basis “with a view to remaining in the position throughout autumn” while the FA assessed suitable options.

The BBC has been told by two different sources that initial talks have taken place with German Tuchel.

One source says discussions are at an advanced stage and while no announcement is expected on Tuesday, the situation could develop quickly, with Tuchel now favourite to be given the job.

An approach was also made for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in the summer to see if had an interest in the England role.

Neither the FA or Manchester City would comment publicly when approached by BBC Sport.

Tuchel left Bayern Munich in May, despite still having a year to run on his contract, as the German giants failed to win the Bundesliga title for the first time since 2011-12.

He has also previously managed Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Paris St-Germain.

Tuchel, 51, was Chelsea boss between January 2021 and September 2022 – winning the Champions League, Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup before being sacked.

In June, Tuchel ruled himself out of the running to take over at Manchester United – it was understood that he met Red Devils co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in France.

If appointed, Tuchel would become the third non-British permanent manager of the England men’s team after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

Southgate spent eight years in charge of England and is the only manager bar 1966 World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey to lead the England men’s team into a major tournament final, doing so at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.

He managed England at four major tournaments, also reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and quarter-finals in 2022.

Carsley has overseen three victories and one defeat in the Nations League since stepping up to cover the role.

Like Southgate, Carsley was previously England Under-21s boss and guided the team to the European U21 Championship in 2023.

After winning his first two games as interim England manager, Carsley tasted defeat against Greece at Wembley on Thursday before Finland were beaten 3-1 in Helsinki on Sunday.

Following the loss to Greece, Carsley said he would “hopefully be going back to the under-21s”.

After the win over Finland, the 50-year-old insisted it was “definitely” wrong to say he had ruled himself out of the running for the permanent job, but said England deserve a “world-class coach” and conceded he “is still on the path to that”.

Among the names previously linked with the permanent vacancy are Newcastle manager Eddie Howe and former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter.