Arsenal legend Ian Wright defends Thomas Tuchel's 'wild-card' England selection

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Ian Wright has defended Thomas Tuchel’s divisive decision to recall Jordan Henderson and believes the midfielder could be included in England’s squad for the 2026 World Cup.

Henderson was perhaps the biggest shock as Tuchel named his first squad for the Three Lions’ Group K qualifiers against Albania and Latvia earlier this month.

The Ajax captain had not featured for his country since November 2023 but came on as a second-half substitute in both of England’s wins at Wembley.

Explaining Henderson’s surprise return, Tuchel said the former Liverpool skipper ’embodied everything’ he was attempting to build in the lead-up to next year’s tournament in North America.

‘Jordan is a serial winner,’ the England head coach said.

‘He’s captain of Ajax. What he brings to every team is leadership, character, energy and personality.

‘He makes sure everyone lives by the standards. He embodies everything we try to build. We want to build a team our fans are proud of.’

It was widely assumed that Henderson had brought his England career to an end when he swapped Liverpool for Al-Ettifaq in 2023.

But Henderson cut short his stay in Saudi Arabia just six months later, before putting pen to paper on a two-and-a-half year contract at Ajax.

While Henderson was hampered by injuries across a difficult debut season in the Netherlands, the midfielder has been a mainstay in Francesco Farioli’s XI this term, making 39 appearances in all competitions.

Ex-England and Arsenal striker Wright understands why Tuchel has decided to recall Henderson and would not be surprised to see the 34-year-old retained for next year’s World Cup.

‘The fact that he’s brought him in and it was the wild-card inclusion. Everyone was like, “Jordan Henderson?!”,’ Wright said on the Wrighty’s House podcast following England’s 3-0 victory over Latvia.

‘But then when you listen to his interviews, listen to him talking about the players and players around the squad, what he wants from the squad, who is great around the squad… he himself said that everybody, literally to a man, was mentioning Jordan Henderson.

‘It would not surprise me, if Jordan Henderson’s fit enough and playing in the games, if Jordan Henderson is there for what he brings to that team, to that group of players.

‘Thomas Tuchel said at the start that he wasn’t thinking of Jordan Henderson but the conversations he was having, Jordan Henderson’s name came up nearly every single time.’

Wright added: ‘I’m looking at it and I’m thinking: yeah, okay, I can see Jordan coming on for five minutes at the end of games. I could see Jordan Henderson in that World Cup squad, depending on who emerges or if he gets injured or if something drastic happens.

‘But he’s taken Jordan Henderson for a whole different reason, because he’s only got 18 months.

‘It’s not a four-year thing where he’s looking to see who’s coming through… he needs it now and he might need that mentality in with them now, whether he does make it or if maybe leaves him out towards the end because someone else has emerged or whatever.

‘But I can see that he could be somebody that could be there. He’s got worth. That’s what I feel with Tuchel, Tuchel sees his worth.’

Wright believes England will benefit from having a experienced leader like Henderson in the dressing room.

‘You look at Jude [Bellingham], he looks like he’s a big personality in there. Obviously Declan [Rice] is and then you’re starting to look around, there’s no Jordan Henderson profile in there who will pull everybody up.

‘He’s still got the capability in that dressing room to pull Jude Bellingham up, that’s how Jude sees him.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Jude needs pulling up. But there’s no one in that dressing room… when Jude came through, it was Jordan who was helping him through so he’s got that respect for him, that big-brother respect.’

Wright was critical of England’s wayward shooting against Latvia and felt Tuchel’s players may have been suffering with ‘tiredness’.

‘All I saw last night, in the end, was a bit of tiredness,’ he went on.

‘Some of the decisions when you’re tired were poor, especially in that format. You give the ball away and they’re straight in.

‘I thought the strikers… there weren’t enough strikes on goal. I thought our shooting was wayward.

‘But in the main, I thought they looked alright, they looked a little bit organised.

‘We should have been quicker with what we were doing, though, taking a couple more chances with what we were doing.

‘I’m just going to put that down to nerves at the start. I think people were taking shots that weren’t on.

‘It just comes down to just staying with the game-plan, when there’s an opportunity to shoot then do it properly, do the basics, because there’s so much reward for hitting the target.

‘You either get a corner or you get a goal or the goalkeeper makes a great save, so that’s what you should be focusing on when you’re striking the ball.’

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