Alan Shearer has suggested the Football Association were forced to act quickly to secure a deal for Thomas Tuchel to take over as England boss.
Tuchel has agreed an 18-month contract to become England boss, meaning the 2026 World Cup in North America could be his only tournament in charge.
The former Chelsea boss will be only the third non-English manager of the men’s England team and first since Fabio Capello quit in 2012.
A press conference is expected to be held at Wembley on Wednesday to confirm his appointment.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer and Gary Lineker discussed the speed of the deal, with talks between Tuchel and the FA having accelerated rapidly in recent days.
Thomas Tuchel has agreed a deal to become the next manager of the England national team
Alan Shearer believes links to the FA forced the Football Association into a decision
Tuchel had been strongly tipped to replace Erik ten Hag if Man United sacked the Dutchman
Shearer insisted the FA would have been fearful of losing an ‘outstanding candidate’ in Tuchel, with reports had been lined up as a candidate to take over as Man United boss amid growing pressure on Erik ten Hag.
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BREAKING NEWS
Thomas Tuchel AGREES to become the new England manager as FA move quickly to beat Man Utd to German
‘They [the FA] have looked at whoever and come up with Thomas Tuchel and thought there is a real live chance he could get the Man United job pretty soon,’ Shearer said.
‘There, opportunity lies now. If they didn’t act quick, now, they weren’t going to get one of the outstanding candidates for the England job.
‘There is every chance that vacancy could become available soon.’
Links between Tuchel and Man United intensified after the Red Devils’ worst start to a Premier League season, with eight points from their opening seven matches.
Ten Hag’s future was among the topics discussed at Man United board meeting last week at Ineos’ headquarters in London.
Lineker agreed with Shearer’s view by suggesting the timing of the deal indicated the FA had been pushed.
He highlighted that Tuchel is not expected to take over as England boss until the start of the year, with interim Lee Carsley set to remain in charge for the Three Lions matches with Greece and the Republic of Ireland next month.
Tuchel is expected to take over as England’s next manager from the start of next year
‘We know they [Man United] went for Tuchel in the summer and it didn’t happen so maybe they were thinking again and the FA were thinking “crikey, we don’t want to miss out to Man United” and maybe it pushed them,’ Lineker said.
‘It does seem slightly odd the timing, because reports are he is not going to do the job until the start of the year. Lee Carsley is going to get three camps, I suspect he knew because his quotes were slightly informative in a way.
‘Particularly after the second game they won, he stipulated that England need a manager who has won trophies.’
Shearer added ‘I think the FA thought we have to act here or there is a chance we lose one of our outstanding candidates to a club job and that could have happened really soon.
‘I think that fits with everything, why he would start in January and not maybe immediately. They thought let’s get this deal done now.’
