Aaron Rogan: You don't need to be a big name to make a splash in international football

Thomas Tuchel is already proving to be England’s manager of the future, with eight Three Lions players deciding to give this month's international break a miss until the new boss begins work on New Year's Day.

The choice of Gareth Southgate’s successor hasn’t received universal praise, with some channelling Al Murray’s Pub Landlord in opposition to the German’s appointment.

Any hostility towards Tuchel is over the top but the Football Association's decision certainly deserves some scrutiny and their lack of faith in English coaches led them down a desperate big-name path rather than necessarily the smartest candidate.

The short-termism of Premier League clubs has muddied the managerial pathway. With no homegrown coaches seemingly capable of outwitting elite international counterparts on the club stage, the FA perhaps felt they had to throw millions at the highest-profile manager available.

However, club football is an entirely different beast and it has been a long time since international football was seen as the pinnacle of the game.

Didier Deschamps has never been hailed as an elite tactician despite winning the World Cup with France in 2018 and taking foreign managers with more established club CV's is not always going to make a major difference. Just ask Belgium – their golden generation failed to deliver on their undoubted promise under Roberto Martinez or Domenico Tedesco. 

Portugal, meanwhile, have now turned to Martinez despite having plenty of stronger homegrown alternatives.

Italy’s Luciano Spalletti and Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann are the only international managers close to matching Tuchel’s club CV, but you only need to look at current world champions Argentina and Euro 2024 winners Spain to see that success is achievable on the international stage without a high-profile boss.

There will be some who pick holes in the records of the English options, but on paper they are certainly no worse than Luis de la Fuente or former West Ham defender Lionel Scaloni, who have scooped major honours with Spain and Argentina respectively.

There are three English managers in the Premier League and three other Brits. Of the six, all but one, Newcastle's Eddie Howe, entered the international break with their club in the bottom six. 

It's a tough league and it's not always easy to know what success is for those outside of the obvious big clubs.

Howe is the standout English boss in the top flight. He’s already led Newcastle to a Wembley final and into the Champions League during his time on Tyneside and he potentially has the backing to take them even further in the future.

At 46, it’s unlikely that Howe's chance to manage England has been and gone. But if he left Newcastle tomorrow, would a future gig with a Champions League-level club be as certain? That doesn't mean he lacks the qualities to be England manager, although maybe given the standing of international football for many club bosses it might be more interesting to just be kicking around mid-table anyway.

Even Tuchel seems eager to return to the club game given that he has signed only an 18-month deal with the Three Lions. 

Put simply, the England position is a perfect chance for him to give his career a jolt, free from the transfer issues and daily dramas that soured things in his last two posts at Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

It’s in stark contrast to Southgate, who said the national job has been the "honour of my life" when stepping down at the end of Euro 2024 after eight years in the post. 

Southgate was the longest-serving England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, yet the FA never drew up a coherent succession plan.

Now the gig has gone to a foreign coach potentially just passing through while English managers wait in line for the top job.

It's certainly at odds with how the two most successful nations, Argentina and Spain, are operating. The pair have twigged that the real pathway comes from within. 

Argentina won the World Cup and back-to-back Copa America titles after promoting Scaloni through the ranks, while De La Fuente led Spain to Euro 2024 glory after working his way up through La Roja's youth sides for eight years. 

Given Southgate’s success and the fact that Lee Carsley led England's Under-21 side to a European title only last year, the FA had every incentive to follow that blueprint. 

The decision to throw money at the problem and go against the spirit of international sport could have been avoided with a bit more faith in English managers.

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