Tuchel overlooked the wide man in his massive 35-man squad - the last to be named before the tournament
11:27, 20 Mar 2026Updated 11:27, 20 Mar 2026
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Harvey Barnes has seen his World Cup dream virtually come to an end after knocking back Scotland.
The Newcastle United winger is eligible for the Dark Blues through his maternal grandparents and there had been speculation he could declare in time to offer Steve Clarke a massive boost to his wide options in time for this summer's tournament.
Barnes, whose sole England cap came in a friendly against Wales in 2020, said in November he was keeping his options open. However, Clarke revealed in December that he had formally been turned down.
The 28-year-old told the Scotland gaffer he wanted to concentrate on playing for England. But he has now been snubbed from a mammoth squad list before the tournament - which appears to show he is well out of the international picture.
Ahead of the tournament, Thomas Tuchel has his final chance to examine the squad in friendly games against Uruguay and Japan. He named a whopping 35 players in the squad for the game but omitted Barnes.
His St James' Park teammates Lewis Hall, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon have all been named in the last England squad before the World Cup finals in the States. Newcastle are the most represented Premier League side in the massive squad.
Clarke said on Barnes last year: "It's the perennial question, everybody keeps asking me about it. This time I can say for sure, Harvey's going to concentrate on trying to play for England, he's not going to come to Scotland.
"You can put that one out there. That's for sure. Nobody needs to ask me or Harvey about it any more.
"Am I disappointed? No, listen, Harvey can make up his own mind. We move on."
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