Chalobah missed Tuchel's World Cup call for two hours while shopping in Times Square

Trevoh Chalobah spent two hours unknowingly keeping England manager Thomas Tuchel waiting after missing the text that would change his summer, the Chelsea defender has revealed. The 25-year-old was wandering around Times Square in New York when Tuchel made contact, only discovering the message — and his place in England’s World Cup squad — when he returned to his hotel.

Chalobah had not made Tuchel’s final 26-man selection, but was swiftly called up as a replacement when Newcastle’s Tino Livramento was ruled out through injury. At that point, the defender was already on holiday in New York, with a follow-up trip to Los Angeles booked and no expectation of featuring at the tournament.

“I wouldn’t say [I was] ready, but I was on holiday in New York already, just planning my holiday and not thinking about the World Cup,” Chalobah said. “I just got the text on the Monday, I was surprised and I was ready to go.”

He explained that Tuchel had given him a cautious heads-up at the end of the season. “When we got the news at the end of the season whether we were selected or not, he said ‘you’re close’. I was disappointed that I didn’t make it but he did say ‘stay ready’. So I managed to have a few sessions here and there but really it was about enjoying my holiday.”

The Los Angeles leg of his trip was immediately cancelled once the call came through, and Chalobah admits the financial fallout is still unresolved. “I flew up to New York and was meant to go to Los Angeles after that but obviously had to cut it short when I got the message on Monday,” he said. “I am still trying to get my money back.”

The moment he finally saw Tuchel’s message only added to the drama. “I was literally in Times Square. I went to the shops to get something. It was when I got back to my hotel I saw Thomas had texted, but it was two hours before,” Chalobah recalled. “I wasn’t on my phone, I was just walking around the city. Got back to the hotel, looked at my phone and he had asked if I could call him. My heart just dropped.”

Chalobah had been part of England’s initial 55-man longlist for the World Cup, with his form for Chelsea during the Premier League season enough to keep him in Tuchel’s thinking even after missing the final cut.