How likely Jarell Quansah is to become England’s new starting right-back at the World Cup

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With no Liverpool players in the England World Cup squad for the first time since 1986, there is little engagement with the national team from Reds supporters this summer.

The one player who can change that is perhaps Jarell Quansah, who was somewhat surprisingly picked by Thomas Tuchel ahead of other options such as Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Tuchel has faced criticism for omitting Alexander-Arnold, a decision which looks worse following injuries to Tino Livramento and now Reece James.

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The fitness issues leave England short at right-back, and Tuchel has now confirmed that Quansah is a genuine option until James can return.

Quansah could start against Panama

Though Tuchel has been unfortunate to have picked up problems with his two main right-backs, it is not as though an injury to James in particular could not have been foreseen.

The call to overlook Alexander-Arnold now looks worse than ever, but speaking to the press ahead of England’s final group game against Panama on Saturday night, the German manager hinted that Quansah could now be the next man up.

“We will find solutions, that’s what we do,” he said. “It’s a short period of time, it’s a tournament. We will find solutions.”

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“The thinking, we called Trevoh Chalobah to free up Jarell Quansah on the right full-back position for us.

“I saw him very strongly playing for Liverpool and he played in a back three which is not so far away from the position in Leverkusen. And we have Djed Spence.”

With suggestions that James will be missing into the knockout rounds, Quansah now has a big chance to cement himself as a starter for England.

If the 23-year-old can do well, it will only intensify calls from fans to trigger his buyback clause and bring him back to Liverpool.

Though Tuchel may have been impressed with him at right-back, though, it was always clear at Liverpool that centre-back was Quansah’s best position. Nevertheless, with the Reds needing back-up in both positions, a strong showing will certainly increase the academy graduate’s chances of coming back home.