'Madrid and nothing else' - Will Trent Alexander-Arnold ever play for England again after brutal Thomas Tuchel snub?

Say what you will about Gareth Bale but his status as a national hero is beyond dispute. For the now-retired winger it was always, 'Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.' At this particular point in time, though, Alexander-Arnold has by his own admission, "Madrid. And nothing else."

The versatile defender wrote those words on Sunday evening, after coming off the bench to help Real beat Atletico in a wonderfully dramatic derby at the Bernabeu.

Nahuel Molina levelled the game just seconds after Alexander-Arnold had replaced Dani Carvajal but the Englishman played his part in the home side regaining the lead by picking out match-winner Vinicius Junior on the left wing after a typically adventurous burst into the opposition third.

In fairness, the Brazilian still had plenty to do when he collected Alexander-Arnold's cross-field pass but it still represented the highlight of the right-back's injury-interrupted spell in Spain so far.

Of course, that little reminder of what he's capable of from an offensive perspective made zero impression on Tuchel.

We know this because when Jarell Quansah pulled out of the German's squad for this month's friendlies against Uruguay and Japan on Monday, the coach elected to call up Ben White rather than turn to Alexander-Arnold.

In one sense, Tuchel snubbing Alexander-Arnold wasn't all that surprising. He'd only featured in one of the 10 games England have played since the former Chelsea boss formally took over in January 2025 - and even that was as a second-half substitute in a 1-0 win over Andorra last summer that Curtis Jones started at right-back.

Tuchel had also made it clear very early on in his reign that he shared the widely held view that the negatives of playing Alexander-Arnold often outweigh the positives.

"I can see that sometimes he relies heavily on his offensive contributions, and gives not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort," Tuchel said last year.

"When we are talking, especially, about qualifying football and then tournament football, the one defensive error, the one moment where you are not 100 per cent awake, can be decisive, can be the moment where you pack your suitcases and go home."

Basically, Tuchel doesn't trust Alexander-Arnold - not even at a time when England are so short on alternatives.

During Gareth Southgate's Three Lions tenure, Alexander-Arnold struggled to get regular game time with England because of the intense competition for the right-back berth.

Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier may never have been as technically gifted as Alexander-Arnold but, in their pomp, they were undoubtedly more diligent defenders, less prone to getting caught out of position or beaten by opposition wingers.

What's truly shocking, though, is that Alexander-Arnold can't even get into a 35-man England squad at a time when both Walker and Trippier have retired from international duty, and Reece James (another player previously preferred to Trent) is once again sidelined through injury.

Tuchel has picked Djed Spence and Tino Livramento ahead of Alexander-Arnold - even though they only have six international caps between them and are both members of truly terrible Premier League defences, at Tottenham and Newcastle, respectively.

In another damning indictment of Alexander-Arnold's defensive deficiencies, the manager also believes that Bayer Leverkusen's Quansah and Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa - two centre-backs by trade - are also better options on the right side of the defence.

It is the decision to welcome White back into the fold that will really upset Alexander-Arnold, though.

While explaining his decision to overlook the Scouser last September, Tuchel revealed that Alexander-Arnold was "desperate" to get back into the England squad. White, by contrast, refused to make himself available for selection for more than three years, so for Arsenal's make-shift, second-choice right-back to be called up to replace the injured Quansah represented the ultimate insult to Alexander-Arnold.

He may have struggled for form and fitness since moving to Madrid, but White hasn't played a minute of Premier League football since January.

When one considers, then, that Friday's meeting with Uruguay and Tuesday's encounter with Japan are England's final fixtures before the announcement of the World Cup squad, it's difficult to see how Alexander-Arnold could possibly force his way back into Tuchel's thinking between now and the end of the season.

Alexander-Arnold could, of course, catch the eye for a seemingly resurgent Real as they look to win a 16th European Cup but it would honestly be a surprise if unconvincing rookie coach Alvaro Arbeloa were to lead Blancos into the last four, given they're scheduled to face Bayern Munich in the quarters.

But it's not as if any classic Alexander-Arnold assists or set-piece specials would really improve his World Cup prospects. They might prompt a late clamour among journalists or fans for him to be called up, given there are very few midfielders let alone right-backs who can manipulate a football in the same way as Alexander-Arnold, but Tuchel is likely to remain utterly unmoved.

He's well aware what Alexander-Arnold can do going forward. "I played many times against him and suffered when he played against my teams with Liverpool," Tuchel explained last week. "So I know very well about his strength and what he can give. I know it's a tough one. I know it's a big name. I think it's a huge talent and with a big career.

"But I feel that I know what Trent can give us and decided still to stick to the players who were in camp [last year]."

The writing is, thus, very much on the wall for Alexander-Arnold - and not just in terms of the World Cup.

Tuchel clearly believes that Alexander-Arnold is simply not the kind of defender he can count on. He does not view him as a risk worth taking when the stakes are at the highest. There is, thus, a very real chance that Alexander-Arnold will not play for England again while Tuchel remains at the helm - which makes the manager's recent contract extension up to and including Euro 2028 a dreadful development for the defender.

These are Alexander-Arnold's peak years. A player first capped by his country at 19, in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, should be a first-team regular at this stage of his career.

Eight years on, though, he's seen just 246 minutes of action across two World Cups, and one European Championship. There has been some element of misfortune involved. Alexander-Arnold was forced to sit out the entirety of Euro 2020 through injury - but it's highly likely that Trippier would have started ahead of him at right wing-back anyway. Indeed, Alexander-Arnold never had the full confidence of Southgate, who ended up trying to utilise him as a midfielder - an experiment the former England manager abandoned just two games into Euro 2024.

Germany was, of course, the scene of Alexander-Arnold's most memorable moment in international football, when he converted the decisive spot-kick in the penalty shootout win over Switzerland in the quarter-finals - but he wasn't called up again for the remainder of the tournament.

Sadly, that decisive five-minute cameo in Dusseldorf is now looking like it will be as good as it's ever going to get for him with England - particularly as what hope he had of making the right-back slot his own appears to have ended the moment the Football Association (FA) decided to dispense with Lee Carsley, who started Alexander-Arnold in his first four games as interim coach, and entrust Tuchel with the task of leading England to a first major international tournament triumph since 1966.

Unless the Three Lions suffer an embarrassingly early exit in north America this summer, Tuchel will remain at the helm until the summer of 2028, by which time Alexander-Arnold will be 29 - and, based on everything we've seen from him to date, highly unlikely to be any better a defender than he is today.

Alexander-Arnold once looked destined to become the best right-back in the world - not to mention Liverpool captain. But it now seems as if getting back into the England starting line-up is as far-fetched as him lifting the Ballon d'Or.

Truth be told, it really could end up being Madrid and nothing else for a player that had the potential to achieve so much more.