Thomas Tuchel has admitted he regrets not being in touch with the Manchester City players in his England squad before kick-off against the Czech Republic, just hours after the Premier League confirmed a guilty verdict against the club over serious financial breaches.
England came away with a precious win from Czech soil on Tuesday evening, running out 2-0 victors in their second round of the UEFA Nations League. It followed a 3-2 defeat to Spain in the first round.
Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi and Nico O'Reilly all travelled with the squad, and the seismic news could easily have rattled the City contingent. Yet Tuchel revealed after the final whistle that the charges, which number more than 115, had not crossed his mind.
Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live whether he had spoken to Guehi, Anderson and O'Reilly, Tuchel replied: "I have a bad conscience now. In truth I did not, because I am focused only on everything we have to deal with here and on preparing the team".
Fans were left wondering what had caught the eye of Guehi and O'Reilly in particular after photos emerged of the pair at the Fortuna Stadium, huddled over an audio recording on one of their mobile phones.
Nobody has confirmed what the players were listening to, if anything at all. City chief executive Ferran Soriano did release a video to the club's 1,000 employees, stressing their innocence amid what he called a "conspiracy theory" in the Premier League.
Back in Prague, Tuchel also hinted, as reported by the "Daily Mail", that Jude Bellingham could succeed Harry Kane as England's next captain.
Bellingham took the armband when he replaced Kane 20 minutes from time.
Was that a glimpse of the future? Tuchel didn't dodge it. "If you are the captain at the end of these matches, you can certainly become the permanent captain," he said.
"It's a reward. It's a good thing. I think he enjoys being with us at the moment. That's how I feel," he added.
The manager went on: "Today we talked a little about his role, and we said maybe 30 minutes would be enough because he has not played during this short spell of matches this season. He has done it before, but not this season, so we did not want to be the first to try that".
"But even in this short time, you can see that he is confident and even happy to help from the bench," he continued.
There was one worry. Tuchel revealed that Bellingham reported a minor injury at the end of the match, with England due in Croatia on Saturday before hosting the Czech Republic next Tuesday.
"We hope it is not serious and that he will be available for selection," Tuchel concluded.