Ex-England star Paul Scholes tells Thomas Tuchel his key concern ahead of World Cup

Paul Scholes has expressed his worry with the no.10 options available for England ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

There are 30 days remaining until this summer’s tournament, where the Three Lions will be one of the favourites to win the coveted title.

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Head coach Thomas Tuchel will announce his 26-man squad on May 22 as he prepares for his first major international tournament as boss.

Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi are among the players who look set for the USA, Canada and Mexico.

However, it’s likely that some big-name stars will not be on the plane, especially those who can play in the attacking midfield role.

Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Morgan Rogers hope to be selected, but Scholes has concerns over their recent runs of form.

Appearing on talkSPORT Breakfast, the 66-cap England legend said: “We’ve got a lot of number 10s, haven’t we?

“I have been little bit concerned about their form of late, you think of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer especially. Bellingham hasn’t really played loads for Real Madrid, although he is coming back now.

“I think there’s some real talent in the team, obviously Harry Kane. To have a player like Harry Kane in your team to score your goals is… he’s probably the best centre forward in world football, someone you’d expect to be challenging for the Ballon d’Or, he’s brilliant for England.

“Like we said before, there’s great talent. Bellingham should be quite fresh as well, he’s had a nice little warm-off for ten games for Real Madrid leading into this World Cup.”

Who plays as the no.10 for Scholes?

Scholes, a former midfielder, was then asked by host Andy Goldstein about who he would want to play in front of him in this England side.

“I love Phil Foden,” Scholes responded. “I think he’s a brilliant, brilliant footballer. For one reason or another, something is not quite right with him, I don’t know what it is.

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“The question is, what do you do with Bellingham? Is he an 8? Is he a 10? Cole Palmer, brilliant as well.

“Rogers from Aston Villa… he had a little bit of a quiet spell but it looks like he’s found his form again. I think you’ve got to go on form with England… I think I’d just go for Morgan Rogers at this point.”

Breaking down the stats

As Scholes alluded to, all of Bellingham, Palmer, Foden and Rogers have not been at their prolific best throughout the season.

Bellingham has endured an injury-hit season with Madrid, scoring just six goals and assisting five in 37 appearances.

Another player with fitness issues has been Palmer, although he has ten goals and three assists in 31 outings.

At Manchester City, Foden has once again fallen below his past standards, yet has still netted ten and assisted five across 47 matches.

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Aston Villa star Rogers has the best record of the lot with 12 goals and ten assists in 53 appearances.

Of those contributions, four have come in his last seven matches, so it’s no surprise that Scholes would be keen to start him this summer.

T-minus 30 days

Premier League action for the 2025/26 season concludes on May 24.

The FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League and Conference League finals are also still to come, then it’s all eyes on the World Cup.

England have two pre-tournament friendlies to play against New Zealand and Costa Rice on June 6 and June 10 respectively.

Their first match in Group L at the World Cup comes on June 17, a clash against their 2018 semi-final victors Croatia.

Ghana are next on June 23 and then it’s Panama on June 27, with 48 nations set to whittle down to 32 for the knockout stage.

The final is scheduled for July 19, with England hoping to end a 60-year wait for world football’s biggest trophy.