Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Josh King only narrowly lost out on the England squad amid stiff competition in attacking midfield.Tuchel revealed his 27-man selection on Friday ahead of the extended international break, which runs from September 21 to October 6.King was on the cusp of making the latest England squadGettyTrent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer have received call-ups after missing the 2026 World Cup, but Phil Foden has been omitted again.Three of the five players that joined the pre-World Cup training camp have returned – Jason Steele, Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha.Ethan Nwaneri was also involved, but has not been selected on this occasion, with Fulham youngster King also among the absentees.However, Tuchel has insisted that it was close call and offered the 19-year-old, who has scored two Premier League goals this season, hope for a future England call-up.What has Thomas Tuchel said about Josh King?Responding to a question on King’s omission, Tuchel said: “Nice that you mentioned Josh King, because we had three players in prep camp with us in the US – Alex Scott, Rio and Josh, all three of them were fantastic members of the squad.“Not only because they were nice and reliable, and excellent characters, but they showed their quality and their courage, and curiosity on the pitch, which was very nice to see. “Josh, especially, had a fantastic start to the season with Fulham.“It was very, very close but, in the end, I felt like we keep the squad tight and give the players that come into camp, let’s say in Josh’s position, the No.10 position with Cole and with Jude, so they have our trust. “Josh is therefore with the U21s, but he was very close and is on the radar.”Why has Ben White been left out?Ben White, who has started in all four Premier League matches for holders Arsenal this season, yet again missed out due to a minor knock.Tuchel has explained why King was not selected on this occasionGettyHe also lamented the latest injury woe that has seen White miss outGettyThe defender was brought off at half-time in their 2-0 win at Sunderland last weekend with an apparent groin issue and Tuchel says he withdrew from international duty as a result.“Ben pulled out with an injury,” he explained. “He had a fantastic start to the season with Arsenal and was back to his very best on the side as a pair, especially with Bukayo Saka, which could be very valuable for us, to have two players on the side. “But, he was unfortunately not available for the World Cup, and is not available now. “It is, unfortunately, a little bit of a story with Ben that, in decisive moments or in the moments when we do the call-ups, he’s not available.”Still no room for Gibbs-WhiteAnother notable omission from the latest England squad is Morgan Gibbs-White, who was widely considered to be unlucky to miss the World Cup after scoring 18 goals for Nottingham Forest last season.He has three goal contributions in four appearances in the 2026/27 campaign thus far, but will not feature in the international break.Gibbs-White was not selected as Tuchel did not want to overload his no. 10 optionsGetty“Close,” Tuchel said on Gibbs-White and what his chances of being selected were. “But it’s always the same.“It makes no sense to nominate three, four, five no. 10s, it just does not help anyone. “We can see the form that Morgan is in, and he ended the season very, very strongly, and was a key player for Forest to not be relegated. We can see him stepping up now.”England begin their Nations League campaign against the world champions Spain at Wembley on September 26.Two matches versus Czech Republic then come either side of their trip to Croatia, with all four matches coming live on talkSPORT.