Nicky Butt has urged Thomas Tuchel to call up Arsenal teenager Max Dowman to the England squad immediately, following the Three Lions' heartbreaking World Cup semi-final exit at the hands of Argentina. The former Manchester United and England midfielder believes the Football Association should effectively write off the 2028 European Championships and focus on building a young team capable of winning the 2030 World Cup.
Butt's Call for Youth Overhaul
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt criticised the mentality of English players and the development system. He said: 'It's not about changing the manager, England are never going to win anything with the mentality of our players and the way we play football right from a young age.'
Butt, who was involved in academy football, contrasted England's approach with South American youth teams: 'When we went to South America, you would watch their youth teams out there and they want to win every tournament they play in. Our mentality is we're trying to develop the players. I get development, but what we don't do is develop winners.'
Max Dowman: The Future Star
Butt specifically highlighted 16-year-old Arsenal midfielder Max Dowman, who made 13 appearances for Mikel Arteta's first team last season and scored a memorable goal against Everton in March. 'Go throw Max Dowman in and play him in every single England game, play him in every international break from now on,' Butt urged.
Dowman was touted for a World Cup squad place but did not make the cut. Butt's former Manchester United and England teammate Paul Scholes added: 'Max Dowman will definitely be around for the next tournament.'
England's Semi-Final Defeat
England led 1-0 through Anthony Gordon's second-half goal but retreated, allowing Argentina to score twice late on and win 2-1. Tuchel's defensive tactics backfired, and he admitted after the match: 'In this moment my feeling was no structure in the world could have helped us. Because actually we were too passive and we were not physical enough.'
Tuchel also pointed to a deeper issue: 'Ball possession plays a crucial role; it's maybe not in our DNA like it is in our Spanish DNA or in our Argentinian-Brazilian DNA, to take the ball and control the game with the ball.'
A Long-Term Plan
Butt argued that England must accept short-term pain for long-term gain. 'If I was in charge I would bring a manager in who understands we might lose the next tournament – we've been losing tournaments for 60 years – so accept we lose the next tournament but understand we need to win the one after that.'
He added: 'You've got to take a few steps backwards to move forwards and we're losing anyway. We're losing in tournaments anyway so you might as well lose with young lads who are going to get more experienced in tournament football to then get to the end game.'
Argentina will face Spain in Sunday's World Cup final after the European champions knocked out France.
