England’s young player pathway is open – but for how much longer?

When Lee Carsley unveiled his third and final England squad at St George’s Park on Thursday afternoon, it was nothing if not a distinctly Carsley selection.

This mini-era has been defined by Carsley’s faith in the next generation, his enthusiasm for bringing through young players, many of whom he knows from his years with England Under-21s.

Carsley has given England debuts to Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke, as well as continuing the development of Rico Lewis and Levi Colwill (and Dominic Solanke and Dean Henderson), all of whom only played once under Gareth Southgate. For a manager only given six games in charge, he has shown an admirable and genuine commitment to bringing through players who might be part of the squads for 2026, 2028 and far into the future. He is not just here for short-term results to bolster his own reputation.

So this month, for his final voyage against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, three uncapped players come into the mix.

First, there is Curtis Jones, in brilliant form for Liverpool, who was brought into the squad last month as injury cover. Then there is Taylor Harwood-Bellis, the Southampton centre-back and captain of the England Under-21 side that won last year’s European Championship under Carsley. “An outstanding captain and a brilliant example to the rest of the players in the under-21s squad,” Carsley said. And finally, there is Lewis Hall, the Newcastle United left-back, the first time Carsley has been able to pick a natural specialist in that position.

There may yet be more young uncapped players added to the squad at the start of next week. Carsley does not know yet if Jack Grealish, who has missed Manchester City’s last five games, will be fit enough to play a part when he reports to join the squad. He said on Thursday that there are “four or five other players” in the same position.

If Grealish or some of the others are not fit enough for the two games, then Carsley has identified a few members of the under-21 squad who he would be “capable of moving over” so they could fly to Athens with the first team of Wednesday. It would not be a big surprise to see Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers or perhaps Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, impressing at Borussia Dortmund, promoted if there were drop-outs.

This is clearly Carsley’s group, Carsley’s ideas. Even though Thomas Tuchel signed his deal to become England manager a month ago, he still has almost two months to go before he takes the reins. His communication with Carsley so far has been limited to a brief exchange by message. Carsley revealed that he had simply said “congratulations”, and that Tuchel wished him good luck with the November break and that he looked forward to meeting up. Carsley said that Tuchel is “fully respectful that I am in charge at the moment”, which does not sound as if the incoming manager is impatiently trying to backseat-drive for this window.

But even if there is no direct Tuchel influence this month, no Tuchel hints nor Tuchel pressure, might Carsley have been tempted to move in that direction regardless? Did he have any sense that he should pick players that Tuchel might want, to start moving the team towards the German’s style?

“No,” came the answer. “I am quite selfish in that respect. I picked the squad which I think can beat Greece and the Republic of Ireland.”

Lee Carsley is proud of his record as England’s interim manager (Cameron Smith/Getty Images)

It was telling that Carsley’s next line was that he “definitely wants to attack”, and then a defence of his approach in the Greece home game, when he picked an experimental strikerless side that was ripped apart on the counter-attack. He is proud of how he has approached this job during his brief time in charge and wants to set England up for future success: “I have tried to pick players who I think have a future in terms of longevity.”

It might be the last time we hear words like that from an England manager, at least for a while. After the Republic of Ireland game on Sunday night, it will be four months until England play again. We do not know yet what competition that game will be in, whether a Nations League play-off, a World Cup qualifier or a friendly.

But we do know that Tuchel, rather than Carsley, will be in charge. He has an 18-month contract and a “singular focus on the World Cup”, as the FA’s CEO Mark Bullingham put it at Tuchel’s unveiling press conference last month.

Given that, his incentives will naturally skew towards the short term. Why try to bring through players for the future when his job is to try to win the World Cup? Why try to promote from the under-21s when Tuchel has so few games in charge of the senior side, but such a large prize on offer in New Jersey in 2026?

It would be frankly irrational for Tuchel to be anything other than focused on the here and now. The young players trying to force their way into the England picture, trying to win the right to be thought of for 2026, might never have a better chance of progress than right now.

(Top photo: Curtis Jones and Taylor Harwood-Bellis; Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)