Butt Backs Tuchel to Drop England Stars and Tips Rogers to Dethrone Bellingham
Nicky Butt has never been one for polite, diplomatic soundbites. So when he says Thomas Tuchel “doesn’t give a f*ck” about reputations, it lands with weight – especially with a World Cup on the horizon and some of England’s biggest names under the microscope.
The former Manchester United and England midfielder is convinced the new national-team manager will be ruthless in 2026. In his eyes, no one is safe. Not even Jude Bellingham.
Bellingham arrives at the tournament off the back of a stuttering, stop-start season at Real Madrid, his rhythm broken by a shoulder problem and a subsequent hamstring injury. He still racked up 40 appearances in all competitions, starting 30 of them, but the campaign never quite flowed as many expected after his explosive rise.
On the other side of the form scale sits Morgan Rogers.
The Aston Villa playmaker has surged into the conversation after a superb season that delivered a Europa League title and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League. At 23, he posted 13 goals and 11 assists across those two competitions, numbers that demand attention rather than polite applause.
Inside the England camp, his status is rising fast. Since making his debut in 2024, Rogers has featured in 13 of England’s 14 matches. That kind of involvement under Tuchel tells its own story, and Butt believes the Villa man could be the one who rips up the established order.
Speaking to Paddy Power, Butt laid it out plainly: Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Bellingham might be the headline acts, but Rogers, he argued, “could be the one that really stands out.”
The key, in Butt’s view, is how Bellingham starts the tournament. If the Real Madrid midfielder catches fire early, the hierarchy holds. If he doesn’t, the door swings open.
“If he's not on the ball or Harry Kane needs to be coming or he’s not scoring goals,” Butt said, the dynamic changes quickly. Tournaments have a habit of throwing up a surprise hero, a player who arrives as a squad option and leaves as a star. Butt is adamant Rogers fits that mould.
He sees a natural Tuchel player in the Villa man: comfortable in that No.10 pocket, able to shoot from range, capable of punishing packed defences. Butt pointed out that many World Cup goals come from outside the box, with teams sitting deep and daring opponents to find a way through. Rogers, he believes, has the tools to do exactly that.
“I think Rogers has got the X-factor,” Butt said. The season told the story: a blistering start, a dip, then a strong finish as he rediscovered his edge. That resilience matters on the biggest stage.
Butt can already picture the scenario. Rogers starting on the bench, then coming on to tilt games, nicking crucial goals, becoming the difference in tight knockout ties. Not as a novelty, but as a genuine weapon.
For now, Butt accepts that the starting XI “picks itself” and Rogers will not walk straight into it. Yet his conviction is clear: if Bellingham is “not flying”, Tuchel will not hesitate. The manager, he insists, will ignore egos, ignore perception, and pull his struggling star “out of the firing line” to throw Rogers in.
From there, Butt believes, anything is possible.
“You could then see someone who could become England's best player in the tournament, he's got that much ability,” he said. History is full of players who arrived as bit-part options and left as superstars. Rogers, in Butt’s eyes, sits right on that fault line.
Doubts over England’s ceiling – and Tuchel’s future
For all his excitement about Rogers, Butt is far less optimistic about England’s chances as a whole.
He sees a young squad, a brutal environment and a nation that will demand more than it might realistically be ready to deliver. Reaching the semi-finals or the final would count as success in his book. He fears the wider public might not see it that way.
With the heat, humidity and heavy travel expected to shape the tournament, Butt struggles to picture England lifting the trophy. “I can't see us winning it,” he admitted, pointing to the conditions as a major leveller.
Failing to get out of the group would be the obvious disaster. But he knows the bar will be set higher. With the talent available – and the high-profile names left at home – anything short of the last four will trigger a storm.
Tuchel has already made big calls. Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all been omitted, players Butt describes as out of form but still headline omissions. If England fall short, Butt is certain the blame will land squarely at Tuchel’s door.
In that scenario, he expects the relationship between manager and FA to end quickly – and by mutual design. Tuchel, Butt feels, looks every inch a club coach: a day-to-day operator who thrives on the constant churn of training-ground work. The England job, huge and prestigious as it is, may never feel like a natural long-term fit.
“If it's not a success, I think both parties will want to part ways,” Butt said. The implication is stark: this World Cup could define Tuchel’s entire England tenure in one sweep.
Brazil, Argentina, Spain – and a harsh reality
When Butt looks beyond England, his gaze goes straight to South America.
The conditions, he argues, will suit Brazil and Argentina. The humidity, the heat, the rhythm of the games – all factors that tilt the balance. These are not the Brazil sides of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos, he accepts, but the badge still carries weight, and the talent pool remains deep.
Spain, too, sit high on his list. Used to playing in heat, backed by a strong travelling support, they look built to last in this kind of tournament. Butt can see them “there or thereabouts”, lingering in the final reckoning.
Yet his mind keeps circling back to the old giants of the south. “I’ve just got Brazil and Argentina stuck in my head,” he admitted. For him, the World Cup picture keeps resolving into those two colours.
Somewhere inside that landscape, England must find a way to compete, to survive the climate, to justify bold selections – and perhaps to unleash a new star in Rogers.
If Tuchel really is as ruthless as Butt insists, the next global stage could see one of the nation’s biggest names watching from the bench while a 23-year-old from Aston Villa tries to drag England forward.
The question is not whether Tuchel will make that call.
It’s whether he’ll have to.
