Rooney Searches for Hidden Depths in Alexander-Arnold Snub, Though Bellingham Makes an Easy Scapegoat

The fallout from Trent Alexander-Arnold's exclusion from the England squad has sparked all manner of speculation about what might really be going on behind the scenes. Fingers are now pointing squarely at Jude Bellingham.

Alexander-Arnold's international prospects have taken a battering under Thomas Tuchel. A solitary 26-minute outing against Andorra in June stands as his only appearance, with injury and indifferent form keeping him out of the three preceding selections. Now, with Uruguay and Japan friendlies looming—what would have been a final audition before the World Cup—he's been left in the cold entirely.

The right-back berth has instead gone to Tino Livramento, Djed Spence, and Jarell Quansah, with Ben White drafted in as cover after three years away and just seven Premier League games for Arsenal this campaign.

Alexander-Arnold's response was as pointed as it was brief: "Madrid. Y nada mas"—Madrid and nothing else—a thinly veiled expression of exasperation at being cast aside.

Tuchel, meanwhile, offered a straightforward justification. He wants players brimming with "intensity," qualities the Liverpool man, for all his considerable gifts, doesn't naturally possess. Fair reasoning, you might think.

Not for everyone, though. Roy Keane smells a rat, and Wayne Rooney is convinced there's a "deeper" narrative lurking beneath the surface. Never mind Tuchel's well-documented preference for battle-hardened squad members, Alexander-Arnold's patchy form this season, or the manager's explicit desire for a "different profile." There must be more to it.

The evidence? Rooney pointed to Alexander-Arnold's friendship with Bellingham and suggested Tuchel might be attempting to dismantle an alleged clique. "Maybe Tuchel feels there's a clique there and he's trying to split that up," Rooney mused on his BBC podcast, before admitting: "I don't know what the reasons are."

It's a curious theory, especially given that the pair have shared a squad selection precisely once under Tuchel's tenure.

Bellingham himself has been absent from internationals before—a shoulder problem sidelined him in September, while October's omission came despite Tuchel citing his recent return from injury as the deciding factor. But in Rooney's reasoning, even that feels suspect.

Context matters here. Tuchel isn't bucking any trend. Jurgen Klopp cherished Alexander-Arnold, certainly, but Gareth Southgate was unmoved, Xabi Alonso showed little interest, and at Real Madrid he remains a peripheral figure under Alvaro Arbeloa. Managers, it seems, have consistently viewed him as talented yet flawed.

The simpler explanation? Alexander-Arnold needed to be exceptional to fit Tuchel's demands, and he simply hasn't been. Sometimes football doesn't require conspiracy theories—just honest assessment.