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Thomas Tuchel has dipped into the ranks of his former club Chelsea as he starts to build his coaching staff ahead of taking up his role as England manager.
Goalkeeping coach Henrique Hilario has resigned from his post at Stamford Bridge and is expected to join Tuchel when he starts as Three Lions boss on 1 January.
The German worked with Hilario during his time as Chelsea boss, which included a Champions League win, and the one-cap Portugal international will replace Martyn Margetson – who left when Greth Southgate departed – as England’s goalkeeping coach.
Tuchel has signed an 18-month contract to take him through to the end of the 2026 World Cup and his backroom staff will also include two further ex-Chelsea employees in the form of his assistant Anthony Barry and James Melbourne, who has left his role as head of performance analysis at the Blues.
Hilario played for Chelsea for eight years, from 2006 to 2014, and won the FA Cup twice, before returning as part of Antonio Conte’s coaching staff in 2016 after he retired from playing. He has been at Stamford Bridge ever since.
Last month, Blues boss Enzo Maresca stated that the Football Association had not made a formal approach for the 49-year-old Hilario but said he would not stand in the way of his goalkeeping coach if he did want to leave for the England job.
“We are open-minded in terms of allowing people to take chances,” Maresca explained. “Also, we are happy to keep people that want to stay. The ones that want to go, they can go.”
The FA will confirm Tuchel’s full England staff at a later date but it will not include interim head coach Lee Carsley, who will return to his role as Under-21 boss, Ashley Cole or Joleon Lescott.
Carsley appeared to lay down a challenge to Tuchel after finishing his interim reign with a 5-0 thrashing of Ireland to end with a record of five wins from six.
When asked if England could win the World Cup in 2026, Carsley said: “I think we are in a good position to do that. I think we have the talent to do it. We have got all of the tools. We just need to play them in the order.
“Thomas’s pool of players has increased so we have left the squad in a fantastic position. I have been lucky now to be at the last couple of World Cups and the timing of the players being in form, physically and mentally, at the right time, picking the right squad.”
Source: independent.co.uk
