Will Tuchel's 'repulsed' comment spark a rift with Bellingham? | Could Gyokeres strike to force United move?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido. Joining me are the Mirror's chief football writer, John Cross, and the Times' northern sports correspondent, Martin Hardy. Welcome along to you both. John, I'm going to start off with you. We saw your papers Back Page and

It is very much, you know, the topic of the day, isn't it? Thomas Tuchel and how he has described Jude Bellingham. And I think it's worth putting this in context, isn't it? Because he does say some very positive things about Jude Bellingham, calling him sort of a special boy, saying, you know, he smiles and he wins everyone over kind of thing. But also this word, and it's the word that's been picked up by every single paper. And it's a very deliberate word, isn't it? Repulsed or repulsive. What did you make of his comments?

Well, I think the subject there, David, sort of kind of sums it up perfectly, really. Odd comments, really, as it says. I mean, it was a strange thing to say from Tuchel's point of view. Yeah, just to put it in context, he, I think, was doing a contractual radio interview, quite an expansive chat, really, and they got into Jude Bellingham's

And basically, I think Adrian Dunne was posing the questions and said, basically, what do you make of Drew Bellingham? His sort of fiery nature. And then also, he posed the question, some people think that the team would be better off without him. I mean, I'd love to meet one of those people. I mean, blimey. I cannot get my head around that, why England would be better off without one of the very best players in the world, an absolute national treasure and someone like that.

I absolutely adore watching, but you know, I just can't really get my head around that sort of kind of comment. And then Tuchel takes it on board and maybe is thinking, you know, that he's sort of kind of coupled that not, not from a sort of team point of view, but more about sort of kind of what Bellingham sometimes does on the pitch. You know, he did kick a ball water bottle as he came off.

last night. And I do think, you know, early in the season, he's obviously been sent off in Spain, but I mean, you know, he was making the point and was very generous about Benningham saying, look, he's got a fiery nature. It's about channeling that energy into, into a positive way because we've got an absolute special boy here. And basically if we can channel that fire, as he called it, that energy, then he will only get better for us. And then he told this anecdote about,

about how even sometimes when you watch him on telly, you don't quite understand what a special boy he is and what a sort of unique talent he is. And sometimes when my mum's watching games, his mum is Gabrielle, by the way, and obviously a clean follower of her son's career path and the teams that she manages, he said that basically sometimes she is repulsed by what she sees. I mean...

I'd love to say being generous and sort of kind of say it was a communication breakdown. It's not his second language, but I mean, as Martin will tell you, this guy is a very, very intelligent manager. He is super smart, super cool. He knows exactly what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's saying. And he's very much in command of what he says. He doesn't say something without thinking about it first. He doesn't make missteps or mistakes. He really doesn't.

So he knows what he's saying and he's trying to make a point there. And I just think perhaps that point has come across badly because I tell you what, if I'm Duke Bellingham, I'd look at that and think, what's he going on about? Wow. You know, and if I'm his family, I'd be super protective and hurt. And frankly, you know, quite rightly so. I don't play into sometimes the kind of the nature of the kind of, you know, everyone's out to get Bellingham. They're really not.

From my perspective, I thought the media really painted him rightly so as England's most important player and best player at last summer's tournament. He was the driving force in so many games. And frankly, I do think he got a lot of praise, even to the point of front pages when he was facing a potential UEFA ban. I think that was kind of the tone was, let's pray he doesn't get banned. The nation's behind you. We need you, Jude. So I do think he gets a lot of coverage there.

And I'm quite sure that I don't think he would be particularly pleased about this one because we don't hear from him that often. And I'm sure that he'll be kind of, you know, called up like a spring, perhaps, you know, wanting to have a sort of say really. But I do think it's an unfortunate choice of words and unfortunate sort of misstep from this time, I think, from Thomas Tuchel. He's normally so eloquent and so careful and clever with what he says in the media.

Yeah, I think, you know, I'll just read out the quote. I think it's important just to read out exactly what he said. So looking at the back page now of the Telegraph, and they have the quotes here, and just sort of picking up from the relevant bit, I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see, and the smile. If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage, the hunger, and the fire, and it comes out in a way that

can be a bit repulsive. For example, for my mother when she sits in front of the TV, I see that. I mean, the thing is it's, you know, it is anecdotal, but it is referencing, you know,

his own mum, Thomas Tuchel's mum, and it's almost like who's to judge her, who's there to doubt her judgement? It's your mum, isn't it? So, you know, you always kind of think, well, you know, it's going to be someone who judges on what they see and it almost kind of endorses a little bit. But I sort of just wondered, was any of it necessary, Martin? You know, he's almost sometimes too honest, perhaps, Thomas Tuchel, what would you say? The first thing I found is extraordinary and

If you're looking at the Times online today and the Daily Mail online this afternoon when this story broke, the news desk straight away kind of sniffed something remarkable and straight away went, yeah, we'll have that in old money for the front of the book. And that was going on the news side of the online site. And the reason for that was because this is England's head coach who happens to be German and

making unequivocally barbed comments about England's most famous footballer in terms of world recognition.

and all of a sudden you've got a major, major incident. In terms of why he did it, we can only speculate. I think you could possibly read through it and that element of intimidation is quite important that he's talking about the pressure Jude Bellingham puts on other players. We may have realised in the last couple of games that England either are out of form or out of brilliant players and they're going to have to change a lot of the team that

did well for Gareth Southwick. You're going to have to build a new defence for starters. You're going to have to create a system and you're going to bring young players into that system. So Lewis Kelly, Lewis Hall from Newcastle, Liveromento, Morgan Rodgers is young.

It's no good if they're coming into a system where they're frightened of what Jude Bellingham is going to shout at them. And that seems to be the implication from what Thomas Tuchel is saying here. I'm not sure who he's thrown under the bus the most here. It may be his mum. It may be Jude Bellingham. Jude Bellingham, that headline on John's paper, The Mirror, what was it? My mum is repulsed by. Well, that could be turned down to now my mum is repulsed by your comments, Thomas.

because the Bellinghams will not be happy about this. We do forget that Jude is a 21-year-old. He's growing up in public and on a lot of situations, he's very mature. But at the same time, he's driving as a Real Madrid player and he's potentially bumping into players too forcibly. And this is the way Thomas Tuchel, as John has just said there, a smart, smart manager. This is not, I don't think this has been said by accident at all. There is too much of it

In a legal process, he has balanced his argument because he said we need the fire, we need that drive. But at the same time, it's very much a, you need to realise that I'm the head coach here and I think you need to rein in what you're doing. That word repulsive will be one that will be forever associated with the relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham.

As John said again, that first, you know, the next England camp, is there a conversation between the pair? Is there a conversation now between tonight or tomorrow between them to say, look, I may have overstepped them up. I don't see Thomas Tuchel doing that. Does Jude Bellingham now go in, you know, smart at being called potentially immature on the pitch?

A lot of headaches have come from this. We were expecting the fireworks to come on the pitch and develop this England team.

They haven't happened. The last two games have been absolutely awful. Instead of which, he's dropped, you know, I don't really want to use the word terminology, but there's hand grenades being dropped all over the place here on that England squad and how you move it forward. And it's very much, you know, the FA may have worried in the past about what colour Gareth Southgate's waistcoat was going to be. Today and this afternoon and tonight, they've got all kinds of headaches to get around and to kind of repair the relationship, I think, between Jude Bellingham and Thomas Tuchel.

John, do you see it that starkly? I mean, you know, Martin has painted a picture here of, you know, something that, you know, has really caused great strain, great stress very early on in a new manager's reign with time ticking away already, you know, a year to go to the World Cup. Do you think it's that serious or do you think that this is just an unfortunate situation that maybe can be diluted and brushed under the carpet?

No, I do think it's got potential here. I do think it's a bad misstep. I do think it's got a... Monty's right. It's not just one word out of place. It's a really thorough and lengthy examination of how Thomas Tuchel sees Jude Bellingham.

And basically, you know, he kicks off by basically saying, you know, talking about this sort of kind of disciplinary issue, you know, how fans see him and wanting to channel that fire, but then also kind of bounce, you know, balancing it and obviously correctly doing so, um,

To sort of say what a smart, intelligent, clever boy he is and how much he likes him and the smile lights up the room. So I do think then that basically him putting so much thought and effort into it really just shows you, I think, that he had something that he wanted to get off his chest.

I do think that Bellingham is an extraordinary talent. You know, England are blessed with a generational talent who, frankly, youth coaches at every level have been aware of for so many years, has burst through, and he's the one that's lived up to that incredible early potential, not just for England, but indeed Real Madrid. And I think that...

It's very difficult because you don't want to get into kind of managing those special cases and kind of treating players differently from the rest. That's when you get cliques.

but equally part of the art of being an international manager in my view is different to being a club manager when you I mean Tuchel certainly you know bore the brunt of PSG and Bayern Munich perhaps as sort of kind of dressing with fallouts and difficult as difficult characters and players to manage but I think at international level you know for some of the bigger nations like indeed England these days the players play at the biggest clubs like Harry Kane at Bayern Munich Jude Bellingham and

you know, at, um,

At Real Madrid, Trent Alexander-Arnold now going to Madrid. So I do think it's more about kind of almost being able to man-manage them and basically make sure that you sort of stay on side with them. I mean, these guys, you know, presumably, of course, they need to work on shape and tactics and formation and that sort of thing. But to actually train and improve as players, I would have thought man-management is right at the top of the kind of the priority list. And that is the kind of the managers, you know,

and you need that togetherness. All week, Thomas Tuchel has been talking about togetherness and team spirit and a bond, connections. I have to say, you know, comments like this is certainly not going to kind of, you know, sort of strengthen and sort of kind of world those stronger together, are they really? I think that's the point. And so I do feel as if, I'm not saying treat him with kid gloves,

but just manage him sensibly as you would with any other player because basically you are talking about a special, unique talent. And I think sometimes man management at international level is as important a quality and it's why Gareth Southgate was so damn good as an England manager because he just struck the right balance and got England to two major tournaments, got us to the finals of major tournaments because he got that group and that group were together. Against Senegal last night, I was at the city ground,

they looked anything but together and that is an issue. And I think when you see comments like this, you ask me whether it is potentially a serious issue, David. I do think it's got that about it, yes. And Martin, do you think that, you know, I'll come back to you, you've sort of mentioned where, you know, you think this might end up, you know, what the potential ramifications of this could be in terms of further conversations that need to be had or the strain, the stresses on relationships in the squad, but

I sort of just wonder, I'll just come back to this, this taking it into the family domain of saying my mum, you know, inferring what she might think if she's watching on TV and she doesn't get, you know, that he can be very well mannered and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then ultimately what Jude's mum might think about what Thomas has said about what his, I mean, isn't that the bit that is the most inflammatory? Because that's the bit that implies real sort of real judgment, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm just wondering whether Thomas Tuchel's mum is saying, by the way, that was supposed to be off the record and I didn't expect you to tell the whole world about my houseware. She may be more careful with what she tells her son in the future. But it has a feel of a junior football pitch. The side of a junior football pitch, he said, he said. And I don't think...

either of the Bellingham parents will be particularly pleased to see the word repulsed regarding their son's on-field behaviour. Take away the word on-field and this is a great criticism of how your son acts in public and that will really sting the Bellinghams. Take football out of the equation here. You're questioning...

you know, to a certain degree how the players being brought up. Gents, we're going to go straight back to Thomas Tuchel and the back page of the eye. I want to manage three lines all the way to Euro 2028. Just to put this in context, he was asked in this interview with Talk Sport whether if England won the World Cup, would it be tempted to stay on? And if they fell short, would it be tempted to stay on? So essentially, you know,

And on both occasions, Thomas Tuchel said that he would be tempted to stay on. In that sense, John, is there much surprise in hearing this from Thomas Tuchel? He certainly wasn't going to say the opposite, was he? No, he wasn't. Well, David, I would say on £5 million a year and sort of 18 months of that sort of money and then also...

Managing England, as he was saying, is such a great honour and a privilege. Let's not forget, of course, one of the joint hosts for what is billed as often a sort of a UK and Ireland tournament ahead. So, yeah, I do think he's clearly enjoying it. I certainly think he's had challenges along the way. But I do think also it's important to say from his point of view, saying, well,

Look, I'm really enjoying it. I'm embracing it. I'm enjoying life as a kind of England manager. And I want to see it through and do well at this tournament and beyond. Because the moment you say, I'm definitely going as international manager after the next tournament, you're done. It's a fatal mistake that others have made in the past. And basic players stop listening. And I do think that Tuchel's a smart guy, as previously said. I think he is enjoying it. And I do think he's got potential. Whether or not he's got the defenders...

At the back for England, let's see, but he's clearly enjoying it. Briefly, thoughts on it, Martin? What do you make of his comments on this one? I think it all ties in together that this may be a much bigger job than everybody thought, including Thomas Tuchel. And to blend, to create a team from so many fragments will take longer than 12 months. I think England weren't anywhere near winning the European Championships as was kind of expected.

suggested by reaching the final at Spain, they were fortunate. If they'd won, you would have went, I'm not quite sure how they've done that. That feeling, the FA, ooh, there's just one more step, I kind of railed against that. I thought that team was lucky to get that far and there is a lot of rebuilding to be done now. You're losing the complete defence. You've got to rebuild that. You've got to find how you fit Jude Bellingham in a system. You've got three number 10s.

You had a left-back, a right-back against Andorra, a right-back, a left-back, a centre-mid at right wing, a right wing at left wing. There's a lot to be done in that team, which people perhaps haven't realised, and maybe it's Thomas Tuchel who has.

Okay, let's go to your paper, Martin. On the right-hand side, a story about Crystal Palace. John Texu is prepared to sell his stake for £170 million to enable the FA Cup winners to play in the Europa League next season. So is this Palace just being sure of wanting to maintain that Europa League place after winning the FA Cup? It's quite a dramatic move, if so.

It is and as we've seen selling a football club is not a two-minute job. The story from my colleagues Martin Ziegler and Matt Lawton and they've kind of led the way on this one and they are saying within the story that UEFA will rule on the matter later this month which gives you very little time to sell a football club. Insiders are increasing they say insiders increasingly of the view that only if texta sells will the matter be resolved. You

You have the Nottingham Forest owner who has already sent a letter to UEFA because he wants his team to be elevated to the Europa League. And lurking in the background is Crystal Palace's rivals, Brighton, who thus far have said they aren't interested. But it would be interesting if Crystal Palace weren't to take their place, whether they suddenly fancy the season in the Conference League. So, yes, a moving situation, but time seems to be against Crystal Palace.

Just a couple of minutes left. Good to get your thoughts on the situation surrounding Victor Gyokras. In the sun, John, fuming Victor in strike threat. He's threatened to go on strike to force through a dream move to Manchester United or Arsenal. This after the comments from the sporting president around what they might accept for him. It's starting to get a little messy, this one, isn't it?

Well, I think it always gets messy when you don't have a buyout set in stone in a contract. And that is at the heart of this row we read here on quite a few of the back pages, really, because he has been heavily linked, hasn't he, with a reunion with Amarim at Manchester United, Arsenal being heavily linked as well. Arsenal sort of kind of more heavily in recent times sort of kind of looking at Sesco, I think. But Gorkarez, it's...

Earlier in the summer, a lot of Portuguese sources were saying that he would be allowed to go for 70 million euros. That would be the price if someone came in with an acceptable offer and something that Sporting would accept. That's just over 60 million pounds. And yet the Sporting president is very clear in saying that that just does not exist. And so now you've got loggerheads between player, agent,

And I mean, you know, this is a player who I think has got turned 27 this summer. Very powerful player, scored an absolute hat full of goals for Sporting Lisbon. Clearly, he has obviously played in English football before, but clearly very much appeals to him to return to English football and those opportunities and forcing that price up.

might just preclude him from getting the deal that he wants. So it's a really ugly set of circumstances. But there's a lesson here, never ever, you know, basically go for. We're not quite absolutely clear on this, but if it's only bound by a word, then in football, as we all know, I'm afraid to say, when it comes to tens of millions of pounds and big money agreements and transfers, that rarely counts for very much at all.

Very briefly, in 10 seconds, Martin, where will he be heading? United, Arsenal or staying put? If he gets his way, I think he'll go to Manchester United.